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PUBLIC WRITERS OF THE GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENT: STUDIES IN LESSING, ABBT AND HERDER b y BENJAMIN WALL REDEKOP B.A., Fresno P a c i f i c College, 1985 M.A., The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1990 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Hist o r y ) We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming £ 0^he r e q u i r e d standard UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Spring 1996 (c)Benjamin Wall Redekop, 1996 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his ,or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Department of DE-6 (2/88) 1 1 ABSTRACT E u r o p e a n E n l i g h t e n m e n t c u l t u r e was a f u n d a m e n t a l l o c u s f o r t h e emergence and c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n o f what has come to be c a l l e d t h e "modern p u b l i c s p h e r e . " I n t h i s s t u d y I a n a l y s e t h e f i g u r e o f "the p u b l i c " d u r i n g r o u g h l y t h e t h i r d q u a r t e r o f t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y , p r i m a r i l y as r e f r a c t e d i n t h e w r i t i n g s o f t h r e e p r o m i n e n t German Aufklarer, G o t t h o l d E p h r a i m L e s s i n g , Thomas A b b t , and J o h a n n G o t t f r i e d H e r d e r . S c h o l a r l y d i s c u s s i o n about t h e emergence o f a German p u b l i c s p h e r e and " p u b l i c o p i n i o n " has t e n d e d t o f o c u s on t h e l a t t e r decades o f t h e e i g h t e e n t h -c e n t u r y , w i t h l i t t l e awareness o f the f a c t t h a t e a r l i e r on , t h e n o t i o n o f a " p u b l i c " i t s e l f was b e i n g c o n s t i t u t e d and c o n t e s t e d b y " p u b l i c w r i t e r s " l i k e L e s s i n g , A b b t and H e r d e r . T h i s o c c u r r e d w i t h i n t h e c o n t e x t o f what I am c a l l i n g "the p r o b l e m o f Publikum," the p a r t i c u l a r German p r o b l e m o f s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l f r a g m e n t a t i o n . The w r i t i n g s o f L e s s i n g , A b b t arid H e r d e r c a n be p r o f i t a b l y u n d e r s t o o d as m e d i a t i n g between t h e w i d e r E u r o p e a n R e p u b l i c o f L e t t e r s and a more c i r c u m -s c r i b e d , p r o b l e m a t i c a l German Publikum. By r e a d i n g t h e i r works i n l i g h t o f E n l i g h t e n m e n t d i s c o u r s e s o f s c i e n c e , s o c i a b i l i t y , a e s t h e t i c s and p o l i t i c s - -d i s c o u r s e s t h a t i n one way o r a n o t h e r t o u c h e d upon t h e i s s u e o f a modern " p u b l i c " - - a s w e l l as i n v i e w o f t h e "problem o f Publikum" and t h e German s o c i a l and i n t e l l e c t u a l scene g e n e r a l l y , I am a b l e t o c o n n e c t t h e i r i n t e l l e c t u a l c o n t e n t b o t h w i t h w i d e r E u r o p e a n c u r r e n t s and l o c a l German s o c i o -p o l i t i c a l c o n c e r n s . I a r g u e t h a t L e s s i n g ' s d r a m a t i c and l i t e r a r y - c r i t i c a l work s o u g h t t o c o n s t i t u t e a German p u b l i c t h a t was b o t h s y m p a t h e t i c a l l y r e s p o n s i v e y e t c r i t i c a l l y d i s t a n c e d from i t s e l f . A b b t , p a i n f u l l y aware o f t h e " p r o b l e m o f Publikum," s t r o v e to i n s c r i b e a p u b l i c s p h e r e i n t h e i d i o m o f p a t r i o t i s m and m o r a l s . And H e r d e r ' s i n t e r v e n t i o n i n an e m e r g i n g German p u b l i c s p h e r e c a n be u n d e r s t o o d as b u i l d i n g on t h e work o f A b b t and L e s s i n g t o t h e o r i z e t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between l a n g u a g e , l i t e r a t u r e and t h e Publikum i n a complex v i s i o n I l l o f " o r g a n i c e n l i g h t e n m e n t . " The d i s s e r t a t i o n employs a v a r i e t y o f p r i m a r y and s e c o n d a r y s o u r c e s , i n c l u d i n g works by an a r r a y o f E u r o p e a n t h i n k e r s who p l a y e d a r o l e i n L e s s i n g , A b b t and H e r d e r ' s i n t e l l e c t u a l d e v e l o p m e n t . And i t t h e o r i z e s t h e d e v e l o p m e n t s p r o f i l e d i n l i g h t o f c o n t e m p o r a r y t h e o r i e s o f t h e p u b l i c s p h e r e and t h e s o c i a l - p s y c h o l o g y o f George H . Mead, e n g a g i n g q u e s t i o n s o f p e r s o n a l and s o c i a l i d e n t i t y , i n c l u s i o n / e x c l u s i o n , and g e n d e r . I V TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i i Table of Contents i v Acknowledgement v i Preface v i i Chapter 1 Enlightened Publics and the German "Problem of Publikum:" History and Theory 1 Approaching the Public Sphere 2 Publics and P o l i t i c s i n England and France 15 Germany and the "Problem of Publikum" 19 Print Culture and the "Public Writer" 26 A Problematic Publikum 35 Notes 46 Chapter 2 United and Yet Divided: Lessing 1s C o n s t i t u t i o n of an Enlightened German Public 58 Widening Horizons: "Publikum" and "Taste" i n Lessing's Early Writings 60 A Sympathetic Publikum: Lessing's Early Dramaturgy 75 A C r i t i c a l Public Sphere: Lessing's B r i e f e . die neueste L i t t e r a t u r betreffend 93 The Hamburaische Dramaturaie 102 Minna von Barnhelm and Emilia G a l o t t i 110 Publikum: A Contested Domain 115 Notes 121 Chapter 3 I n s c r i b i n g a Public Sphere of C i t i z e n s : Thomas Abbt's Response to the "Problem of Publikum" 134 The "Problem of Publikum" i n Light of the Ancients: The Ciceronian Model 137 The Legacy of Shaftesbury, Helvetius and Pope 139 War as a Catalyst for Public S p i r i t : Abbt's Vom Tode fur das Vaterland 148 Patriotism and the Public Sphere: the B r i e f e and F.C. von Moser 153 "Merit" and the Public Sphere 161 Notes 177 Chapter 4 Language, L i t e r a t u r e and Publikum: Herder's Quest for Organic Enlightenment 187 The Impact of Abbt and Lessing 190 Early Writings 198 Language, L i t e r a t u r e and the Public Sphere: Herder's S o c i a l - H i s t o r i c a l Perspective 215 The Public Sphere Revisited: Herder's Second Version of the "Publikum" Essay 230 Notes 238 C h a p t e r 5 From t h e R e p u b l i c o f L e t t e r s t o Modern P u b l i c s : An E n l i g h t e n m e n t C o n v e r s a t i o n Notes B i b l i o g r a p h y -F i n a l Page v i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Funding for the research and wr i t i n g of t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n was provided by a doctoral fellowship from the Soci a l Sciences and Humanities Research Council (award # 752-92-0611), a Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Fellowship, and a U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia Graduate Fellowship. I am g r a t e f u l f o r the assistance provided by these awards. I am also g r a t e f u l to W. Alan T u l l y and Thomas Salumets, who read and made comments on the d i s s e r t a t i o n which were h e l p f u l i n i t s r e v i s i o n . Very s p e c i a l thanks are due to Edward J . Hundert for hi s unwavering support and mentorship. Without i t the journey would have been much more d i f f i c u l t , a r i d and unpleasant. And f i n a l l y , warm thanks to my wife Fran for her support, both material and emotional, throughout my studies. I couldn't have done i t without you. —I v i i PREFACE Portions of Chapter 4 are reprinted from History of European Ideas, volume 14, Benjamin W. Redekop, "Language, L i t e r a t u r e and Publikum: Herder's Quest for Organic Enlightenment," pp. 235-53, 1992, with kind permission from E l s e v i e r Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington 0X5 1GB, UK. C h a p t e r 1 E n l i g h t e n e d P u b l i c s and the German "Problem o f Publikum:" H i s t o r y and T h e o r y The n o t i o n s o f "the p u b l i c , " " p u b l i c i t y , " and " p u b l i c o p i n i o n " a r e key c o n c e p t s i n w e s t e r n s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l d i s c o u r s e . T h e s e terms t e n d t o have a d u a l c h a r a c t e r , i n d i c a t i n g b o t h t h e p r e s e n c e o f some k i n d o f human c o l l e c t i v e , and t h e p r o c e s s e s by w h i c h i d e a s , o p i n i o n s , c o n c e r n s , and i n f o r m a t i o n a r e r e p r e s e n t e d w i t h i n t h a t c o l l e c t i v e . The word " p u b l i c " — u s e d e i t h e r as a noun o r an a d j e c t i v e - - i s o f c e n t r a l i m p o r t a n c e . I n d e n o t i n g a body o f c i t i z e n s , i t i s employed as a c r u c i a l p o i n t o f r e f e r e n c e i n t h e e v a l u a t i o n o f p o l i c y . When u s e d as an a d j e c t i v e , i t i n v o k e s r o o t p r o c e s s e s o f w e s t e r n p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e , h a v i n g t o do w i t h o p e n n e s s , a c c e s s i b i l i t y , and t r a n s p a r e n c y . And y e t t h e r e i s m o r e - - t h e r a n g e o f meanings and u s a g e s o f s u c h a f u n d a m e n t a l t e r m i s n e c e s s a r i l y b r o a d . One way t o g a i n a b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e t e r m i s t o p l a c e i t i n h i s t o r i c a l c o n t e x t — t h e n o t i o n o f "the p u b l i c " has i n f o r m e d s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l d i s c o u r s e f rom t h e p e r i o d o f h i g h Roman c u l t u r e t o t h e p r e s e n t d a y . I t i s a p r o t e a n t e r m w h i c h has l i v e d d i v e r s e l i v e s , y e t has m a i n t a i n e d enough o f an i d e n t i f i a b l e c h a r a c t e r to be r e c o g n i z a b l e , i n i t s v a r i o u s m a n i f e s t a t i o n s , t o us t o d a y . C o n t e m p o r a r y u n d e r s t a n d i n g s o f t h e t e r m began t o t a k e shape d u r i n g t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y , h e l p i n g to l a y t h e f o u n d a t i o n f o r e m e r g i n g c o n c e p t s o f c i t i z e n s h i p and d e m o c r a t i c c u l t u r e g e n e r a l l y . I t was a t t h i s t i m e t h a t i t was r e c o n s t i t u t e d f rom i t s a n c i e n t , j u r i d i c a l and h u m a n i s t r o o t s , and c o n t e s t e d i n t h e s e r v i c e o f a c h a n g i n g s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l o r d e r , marked n o t l e a s t b y t h e r i s e o f m i d d l i n g c l a s s e s . E u r o p e a n E n l i g h t e n m e n t c u l t u r e was t h u s a f u n d a m e n t a l l o c u s f o r t h e emergence and c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n o f what has come t o be c a l l e d t h e "modern p u b l i c s p h e r e . " I n t h e p r e s e n t s t u d y I f o c u s on t h i s dynamic i n t e r a c t i o n between 1 2 i n t e l l e c t u a l and m a t e r i a l c u l t u r e i n mid-eighteenth century Germany,1 paying p a r t i c u l a r a t t e n t i o n to the emerging f i g u r e of "the p u b l i c " - - d a s Publikum--in the w r i t i n g s of three formative p e r s o n a l i t i e s — G o t t h o l d Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Abbt, and Johann G o t t f r i e d Herder. As a work i n the f i e l d of i n t e l l e c t u a l h i s t o r y , t h i s study concentrates on t h e i r t e x t s , ideas, d i s c o u r s e s , i n t e l l e c t u a l r e l a t i o n s h i p s and the l i k e . Yet i t w i l l reach beyond the boundaries of the Germanies to embrace aspects of the European Republic of L e t t e r s and Enlightenment c u l t u r e as a whole, and d e l i n e a t e some of the emerging connections between l i v e d experience and the productions of the mind and pen i n the modern era. Approaching the P u b l i c Sphere Twentieth-century scholars f i r s t approached the t o p i c of the western European p u b l i c sphere most d i r e c t l y v i a the concept of " p u b l i c o p i n i o n . " In the e a r l y 192 0s Ferdinand Tonnies pu b l i s h e d K r i t i k der o f f e n t l i c h e n Meinuncr, a wide-ranging s o c i o l o g i c a l and h i s t o r i c a l treatment of p u b l i c o p i n i o n . Tonnies e s t a b l i s h e d the concept as a subject of a n a l y s i s i n the grand s t y l e of the modern s o c i o l o g i c a l t r a d i t i o n , o f f e r i n g various d e f i n i t i o n s , t h e o r i e s and h i s t o r i c a l examples. 2 The work contains many i n s i g h t s on the t o p i c , but l i k e other s i m i l a r works of p o l i t i c a l s o c i o l o g y , 3 i t concentrates on the nineteenth- and t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r i e s , and l a c k s h i s t o r i c a l s p e c i f i c i t y . Wilhelm Bauer's Die o f f e n t l i c h e Meinunq i n der Weltaeschichte (193 0) o f f e r s a broad h i s t o r i c a l pespective on the t o p i c . 4 The emergence of a p e r i o d i c a l press i n the eighteenth-century i s h i g h l i g h t e d as a c o n t r i b u t i o n to an expanded p u b l i c o p i n i o n i n Europe at that time. As would become the case w i t h subsequent students of the t o p i c , the l a t e r - e i g h t e e n t h century, and the p e r i o d of the French Revolution p a r t i c u l a r l y , r e c e i v e s emphasis as a key moment i n the emergence and e x p l i c i t c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n of p u b l i c o p i n i o n as a category of s o c i a l discourse; While such emphasis i s undoubtedly j u s t i f i e d , 3 the r e s u l t has been to make i t appear that the r i s e and c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n of a German p u b l i c sphere was i n e x t r i c a b l y t i e d to French developments, and to neglect e a r l i e r formative stages i n the process, f o r example the emergence of the s o c i a l and i n t e l l e c t u a l construct of "the p u b l i c " i t s e l f . Bauer i s vague at best on t h i s question, assuming that such an e n t i t y has always been more or l e s s present i n i t s contemporary form. 5 An important postwar work which helped set the stage f o r f u r t h e r d i s c u s s i o n was Reinhart K o s e l l e c k ' s C r i t i q u e and C r i s i s : Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Soc i e t y (1959). K o s e l l e c k used the n o t i o n of p u b l i c and p r i v a t e spheres to help e x p l a i n what he saw as a p a t h o l o g i c a l utopianism that grew out of the Enlightenment and l e d to N a t i o n a l S o c i a l i s m i n Germany. In K o s e l l e c k ' s view, Enlightenment forms of s o c i a b i l i t y and discourse took place o u tside the p u b l i c sphere of a b s o l u t i s t p o l i t i c s , g i v i n g r i s e to a moral utopianism that ignored the pragmatic r e a l i t i e s a t tending a l l p o l i t i c a l forms. A subversive, p a r a l l e l p u b l i c sphere emerged from the p r i v a t e realms of Enlightenment discourse, i n c l u d i n g f o r example freemasonry; secrecy helped to give b i r t h to a bourgeois "moral i n t e r i o r " which would i n time be set up over and against the s t a t e . A " n o n - p o l i t i c a l p o l i t i c s " was the r e s u l t , w i t h a h y p o c r i t i c a l Enlightenment c r i t i c i s m becoming the "spokesman" of p u b l i c o p i n i o n . 6 In many ways a seminal work i n the a n a l y s i s of the Enlightenment as a s o c i a l as w e l l as an i n t e l l e c t u a l phenomenon, C r i t i q u e and C r i s i s s u f f e r s from an e x c e s s i v e l y a b s t r a c t , t y p o l o g i c a l form of argument that breaks down under i t s own weight. 7 Yet Kosell e c k ' s n o t i o n of a competing realm of q u a s i -p o l i t i c a l d i scourse that emerged p a r a l l e l to t r a d i t i o n a l p o l i t i c a l s t r u c t u r e s i s a c r u c i a l i n s i g h t i n t o the nature of Enlightenment c u l t u r e . The most important work to t h e o r i z e t h i s p a r a l l e l realm was j i i r g e n Habermas's seminal The S t r u c t u r a l Transformation of the P u b l i c Sphere: An In q u i r y Into a Category of Bourgeois So c i e t y (1962, 1989). Habermas charts the r i s e of what i n t r a n s l a t i o n he c a l l s a "bourgeois p u b l i c sphere" (btirgerliche Offentlichkeit) i n eighteenth-century Europe, the term 4 "bourgeois" s i g n i f y i n g an educated s t r a t a of j u r i s t s , administrators, doctors, pastors, o f f i c e r s , professors and schblars, as well as a r i s i n g c a p i t a l i s t c l a s s of merchants, bankers, entrepreneurs and manufacturers. Habermas provides a genealogy of the idea of the "the pu b l i c , " t r a c i n g i t from connoting the feudal and cou r t l y "representative publicness" of a b s o l u t i s t r u l e r s , to the abstract counterpart of an in c r e a s i n g l y depersonalized and bureaucratic state apparatus, to a "bourgeois public sphere" that concretized that a b s t r a c t i o n and i n the process appropriated state authority for i t s e l f . This bourgeois p u b l i c sphere stood, by the end of the eighteenth-century, between the state and the "private" realm of a growing commercial/civil society. As Habermas puts i t : The bourgeois public sphere may be conceived above a l l as the sphere of priv a t e people come together as a public; they soon claimed the public sphere regulated from above against the p u b l i c a u t h o r i t i e s themselves, to engage them i n a debate over the general rules governing r e l a t i o n s i n the b a s i c a l l y p r i v a t i z e d but p u b l i c l y relevant sphere of commodity exchange and s o c i a l labour. 8 And according to Habermas, "The public sphere i n the p o l i t i c a l realm evolved from the public sphere i n the world of l e t t e r s , " while the l a t t e r world i t s e l f was coming to be s o c i a l i z e d i n secondary s o c i e t i e s l i k e coffee houses, reading clubs, and i n Germany language s o c i e t i e s (Sprachgesell-schaften). " C r i t i c a l reasoning" made i t s way into the d a i l y press, i n i t i a l l y v i a the learned a r t i c l e , during the f i r s t h a l f of the century, as an int e r e s t e d reading public began to emerge. The pri n t e d word and the p e r i o d i c a l press were thus the c r u c i a l media f o s t e r i n g a bourgeois p u b l i c sphere, helping to give r i s e to "intimate mutual r e l a t i o n s h i p s between p r i v a t i z e d i n d i v i d u a l s who were psyc h o l o g i c a l l y i n t e r e s t e d i n what was 'human,' i n self-knowledge, and i n empathy." Thus one aspect of Habermas's argument i s that a simultaneous, mutual a r t i c u l a t i o n of (bourgeois) p u b l i c and pr i v a t e spheres was taking place. 9 Although the B r i t i s h press was established by the 1730s as an organ of pu b l i c p o l i t i c a l debate, i n France i t was not u n t i l the 1770s and the p o l i t i c a l careers of Turgot, Malesherbes and Necker that a "breach" i n the a b s o l u t i s t system was opened that allowed for a pub l i c sphere i n the p o l i t i c a l 5 r e a l m . The R e v o l u t i o n r e p r e s e n t e d t h e r a p i d , u n s t a b l e o c c a s i o n f o r t h e i n s t i t u t i o n o f a c r i t i c a l p u b l i c s p h e r e o f d e b a t e i n p o l i t i c a l m a t t e r s . V a r i o u s c i r c u m s t a n c e s c o n s p i r e d to make the German t r a n s i t i o n s l o w e r and more h a l t i n g , w i t h a German p u b l i c o p i n i o n emerg ing o n l y b y t h e 1790s . Thus a c c o r d i n g t o H a b e r m a s ' s p e r i o d i z a t i o n , t h e emergence o f a b o u r g e o i s p u b l i c s p h e r e o c c u r r e d f i r s t i n E n g l a n d i n the e a r l y e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y , f o l l o w e d b y F r a n c e d u r i n g t h e t h i r d q u a r t e r o f the c e n t u r y , and Germany towards t h e end o f t h e c e n t u r y . The d i s c u s s i o n o f German deve lopments i s d e v o t e d p r i m a r i l y t o an a n a l y s i s o f t h e works o f Kant and H e g e l . 1 0 A t l e a s t two p o t e n t i a l l y m i s l e a d i n g i m p r e s s i o n s a r i s e f rom H a b e r m a s ' s b r i l l i a n t work: l i t e r a r y and p o l i t i c a l a s p e c t s o f E n l i g h t e n m e n t c u l t u r e a r e n e a t l y s e p a r a b l e , and Germans o n l y began t o r e f l e c t on "the p u b l i c " i n t h e l a t t e r decades o f t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y . The f i r s t i m p r e s s i o n i s b a s e d on t h e a s s u m p t i o n t h a t d i s c o u r s e must be d i r e c t e d e x p l i c i t l y a t e x i s t i n g i n s t i t u t i o n a l o r c o n s t i t u t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e s i n o r d e r t o have a " p o l i t i c a l " d i m e n s i o n . 1 1 One a im o f the p r e s e n t s t u d y w i l l be t o c o u n t e r t h e s e n o t i o n s b y l o o k i n g a t t h e e m e r g i n g s o c i a l / i n t e l l e c t u a l f i g u r e o f "the p u b l i c " - - d a s Publikum--in r o u g h l y t h e t h i r d q u a r t e r o f e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y Germany, and a d d u c i n g i t s s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l c o n t o u r s i n t h e works o f L e s s i n g , A b b t , and H e r d e r , none o f whom w o u l d be d e s c r i b e d as a p a r t i c u l a r l y " p o l i t i c a l " w r i t e r . A l t h o u g h H a b e r m a s ' s work i s open to r e v i s i o n on a number o f c o u n t s , h i s b a s i c model o f an emergent p u b l i c s p h e r e o f p r i v a t e i n d i v i d u a l s w h i c h m e d i a t e s between t h e s t a t e and c i v i l / e c o n o m i c s o c i e t y has been t r e m e n d o u s l y f r u i t f u l f o r s u b s e q u e n t s c h o l a r s . 1 2 An i m p o r t a n t t h e o r e t i c a l e x t e n s i o n o f H a b e r m a s ' s t h e s i s has been made by Dena Goodman. She emphas i ze s t h e m u t u a l a r t i c u l a t i o n o f p r i v a t e and p u b l i c s p h e r e s o f l i f e i n e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y E u r o p e , a r g u i n g t h a t "We n e e d t o g e t away from r i g i d l y o p p o s i t i o n a l t h i n k i n g t h a t assumes two s p h e r e s o r d i s c o u r s e s , one p u b l i c and t h e o t h e r p r i v a t e . " These were n o t m u t u a l l y e x c l u s i v e c a t e g o r i e s , "when monarchy was p r e d i c a t e d on s e c r e c y and a new form o f p u b l i c i t y d e v e l o p e d w i t h i n - - a n d p r e c i s e l y b e c a u s e i t was w i t h i n - -t h e p r i v a t e s p h e r e . " The e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y was, i n o t h e r words , "the 6 h i s t o r i c a l moment i n w h i c h p u b l i c and p r i v a t e s p h e r e s were i n t h e p r o c e s s o f a r t i c u l a t i o n , s u c h t h a t no s t a b l e d i s t i n c t i o n c a n . . .be made between them. 1 , 1 3 Goodman h e r e augments Habermas ' s t h e s i s t h a t t h e emergence o f a modern p u b l i c s p h e r e went h a n d - i n - h a n d w i t h t h e deve lopment o f i n t i m a t e and "human" forms o f p r i v a t i z e d p e r s o n a l i t y , and t h e r e s u l t i s a f l e x i b l e model o f t h e i n t e r a c t i o n o f i n d i v i d u a l and s o c i a l d e v e l o p m e n t . The s p h e r e s o f p r i v a t e , i n d i v i d u a l s e l f h o o d and o f p u b l i c s o c i a b i l i t y emerged, as i t were , i n c o n c e r t . T h i s i n s i g h t i s i m p o r t a n t f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e German s i t u a t i o n , h e l p i n g t o make b e t t e r sense o f t h e c o n c e r n s and a p p r o a c h e s o f t h e Aufklarer ( E n l i g h t e n e r s ) u n d e r s t u d y . I n Germany the a p p e a r a n c e o f i n c r e a s i n g l y autonomous , r a t i o n a l o r a f f e c t i v e "se lves" was a c c o m p a n i e d b y a t l e a s t t h e p r o m i s e o f a new s o r t o f s o c i a l - i n t e l l e c t u a l s t r u c t u r e i n w h i c h t h o s e s e l v e s c o u l d i n a c e r t a i n sense be "at home." The l o n g i n g and c o n c e r n t o shape t h i s k i n d o f s t r u c t u r e - - s o m e k i n d o f r e l a t i v e l y i n c l u s i v e p u b l i c s p h e r e - - i n f o r m e d t h e works o f i n d i v i d u a l s l i k e L e s s i n g , A b b t and H e r d e r , who were p a r t o f an e m e r g i n g e d u c a t e d o r d e r (Stand) o f b u r g h e r s (das gebildete Biirgertum) . The s o c i a l - p s y c h o l o g y o f George H e r b e r t Mead h e l p s t o g i v e t h e s e n o t i o n s g r e a t e r c o n c e p t u a l p u r c h a s e . Mead a r g u e d t h a t t h e human s e l f " a r i s e s i n t h e p r o c e s s o f s o c i a l e x p e r i e n c e and a c t i v i t y , t h a t i s , d e v e l o p s i n t h e g i v e n i n d i v i d u a l as a r e s u l t o f h i s r e l a t i o n s to t h a t p r o c e s s as a whole and t o o t h e r i n d i v i d u a l s w i t h i n t h a t p r o c e s s . " 1 4 Mead p o s i t e d a "se l f" t h a t i s a s o c i a l , i n t e r s u b j e c t i v e , p u b l i c c o n s t r u c t i o n , c o - d e t e r m i n e d by t h e i n d i v i d u a l . As s u c h , i n d i v i d u a l s e l v e s a r e c o n s t i t u t e d out o f a number o f p a r t i c u l a r r e s p o n s e s t o v a r y i n g s o c i a l s i t u a t i o n s ; The s t r u c t u r e o f t h e c o m p l e t e s e l f i s . . . a r e f l e c t i o n o f t h e c o m p l e t e s o c i a l p r o c e s s . The o r g a n i z a t i o n and u n i f i c a t i o n o f a s o c i a l g r o u p i s i d e n t i c a l w i t h the o r g a n i z a t i o n and u n i f i c a t i o n o f any one o f t h e s e l v e s a r i s i n g w i t h i n the s o c i a l p r o c e s s i n w h i c h t h a t g r o u p i s e n g a g e d . 1 5 Mead d e s c r i b e s a p r o c e s s o f i n d i v i d u a t i o n i n w h i c h human b e i n g s become c o n s c i o u s o f " t h e m s e l v e s , " o f an " I , " t h r o u g h a p r o c e s s o f i n t e r a c t i o n w i t h o t h e r i n d i v i d u a l s and e v e n t u a l l y s o c i a l g r o u p s as a w h o l e , t h e l a t t e r b e i n g r e p r e s e n t e d to t h e i n d i v i d u a l s e l f as the " g e n e r a l i z e d o t h e r . " C o n s c i o u s n e s s 7 (and the construction) of oneself occurs i n the process of taking the p o s i t i o n of the "other" towards oneself. Language plays a fundamental r o l e i n t h i s process since i t i s the primary medium by which the symbols that concretize t h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p , which give the i n d i v i d u a l a "mind," are communicated. I t i s the common currency of " s e l f " and "other," the communal, pu b l i c medium through which i n d i v i d u a l s come to self-consciousness and - d e f i n i t i o n . 1 6 One does not need to look very hard to f i n d resonances with Mead's ideas i n eighteenth-century moral and s o c i a l discourse. Probably the best example of Mead-like s o c i a l psychology i n the eighteenth-century i s Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759, 1790). Smith's highly r e f l e x i v e and f i n e l y -wrought account of human moral sentiments traces the i n t e r p l a y between i n d i v i d u a l and s o c i a l character i n a way that suggests p a r a l l e l s to Mead's work, p a r t i c u l a r l y i n Smith's account of the "impartial spectator," who looks much l i k e Mead's "generalized other." Smith argues that i n order to evaluate our own sentiments and motives, "We endeavour to examine our own conduct as we imagine any other f a i r and impartial spectator would examine i t . " By taking the p o s i t i o n of "society," the i n d i v i d u a l i s provided with a "mirror" with which "he f i r s t views the propriety and impropriety of h i s own passions, the beauty and deformity of h i s own mind. 1 , 1 7 Although i t i s couched i n the language of morals, Smith's t r e a t i s e i s very much about the s o c i a l construction of the i n d i v i d u a l " s e l f " and the a r t i c u l a t i o n of i n d i v i d u a l p r i v a t e p e r s o n a l i t y i n the in t e r s u b j e c t i v e arena of public l i f e . Thus Mead's symbolic interactionism may be useful for understanding eighteenth-century developments not least because major Enlightenment figures were engaged i n s i m i l a r e n t e r p r i s e s . 1 8 Material and i n t e l l e c t u a l conditions were emerging that helped give r i s e to t h i s sort of r e f l e c t i o n . The growth of commerce, for example, brought with i t new forms of s o c i a b i l i t y and moral-philosophical r e f l e c t i o n . 1 9 One can broadly characterize the substrate of many new forms of enlightened s o c i a b i l i t y i n terms of the emergence of " c i v i l society," an e s s e n t i a l l y p r i v a t e sphere of s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s based on an emerging market economy but 8 i n h a b i t e d by m i d d l i n g g r o u p s r a n g i n g from merchant s to e d u c a t e d b u r e a u c r a t s and i n t e l l e c t u a l s , as w e l l as i n d i v i d u a l s drawn from t h e r a n k s o f v a r i o u s e l i t e g r o u p s . Whatever i t s e x a c t human c o n s t i t u t i o n , c i v i l s o c i e t y was an e m e r g i n g a r e a o f s o c i a l and economic a c t i v i t y r e l a t i v e l y d i s t i n c t f rom t h e s t a t e . A l t h o u g h d i r e c t r e f l e c t i o n on t h e t erm d i d n o t o c c u r u n t i l l a t e r i n t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y , and o n l y o c c a s i o n a l l y and i n c o n s e q u e n t i a l l y a t t h a t , i t i s u s e f u l f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g b r o a d changes underway i n e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y E u r o p e . 2 0 I t s " d i s c o v e r y " was a t the r o o t o f a b r o a d E n l i g h t e n m e n t d i s c o u r s e on commerce, s o c i a b i l i t y , and p o l i t i c s , 2 1 and i t s p r e s e n c e f i g u r e d h e a v i l y i n H a b e r m a s ' s a c c o u n t o f t h e r i s e o f a "bourgeo i s p u b l i c s p h e r e . " S c h o l a r s i n t e r e s t e d i n s c i e n t i f i c c u l t u r e have begun t o draw c o n n e c t i o n s between t h e new s c i e n c e and t h i s r e a l m o f s o c i o - e c o n o m i c l i f e . M a r g a r e t J a c o b has t r a c e d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between N e w t o n i a n i s m , as a s c i e n t i f i c movement, and s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y s o c i a l and r e l i g i o u s deve lopments i n E n g l a n d , and more r e c e n t l y has been w o r k i n g t o b r i n g s c i e n t i s t i c h i g h E n l i g h t e n m e n t c u l t u r e down t o e a r t h i n t h e M a s o n i c l o d g e s o f E n g l a n d and t h e C o n t i n e n t , i n t h e p r o c e s s i l l u m i n a t i n g the c o n t o u r s o f emerg ing forms o f s o c i a b i l i t y and r a d i c a l p o l i t i c a l t h o u g h t . By "behav ing i n ways t h a t were c o n s t i t u t i o n a l and r e p r e s e n t a t i v e . . . a new v e r s i o n o f t h e p u b l i c [was c r e a t e d ] w i t h i n e n c l a v e s w h i c h , on t h e s u r f a c e . . . [ m i g h t appear] as o n l y p r i v a t e and r e c r e a t i o n a l . " 2 2 The new s c i e n c e p l a y e d a c r u c i a l r o l e i n t h e s i m u l t a n e o u s p r o d u c t i o n o f n a t u r a l knowledge and s o c i a l o r d e r . Whether C a r t e s i a n o r N e w t o n i a n , e m e r g i n g modes o f s c i e n t i f i c e n q u i r y c o u l d s e r v e as t h e l o c u s f o r new k i n d s o f p u b l i c c u l t u r e b u i l t on agreement about c e r t a i n " s c i e n t i f i c f a c t s . " Whether one h e l d "the s p r i n g o f t h e a i r " o r the C a r t e s i a n "plenum" t o be f u n d a m e n t a l and i n d u b i t a b l e , s u c h a r t i c l e s o f f a i t h s e r v e d to u n i t e and f o c u s a community o f t h i n k e r s on common p r o b l e m s o f p o t e n t i a l l y u n l i m i t e d s c o p e , a community t h a t f u n c t i o n e d a p a r t f rom e x i s t i n g e c c l e s i a s t i c a l o r o t h e r i n s t i t u t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e s . I n t h e p r o c e s s new p r o c e d u r e s f o r g a i n i n g a s s e n t and i n t e r a c t i n g as autonomous s o c i a l a g e n t s were b e i n g e x p l o r e d , new p u b l i c s were b e i n g f o r m e d . The M a s o n i c l o d g e s were one t y p e o f s o c i a l e x p r e s s i o n o f t h i s g e n e r a l 9 s c i e n t i f i c movement i n t o c i v i l s o c i e t y , w h i l e s c i e n t i f i c academies and s o c i e t i e s were a n o t h e r . 2 3 The l e a r n e d c u l t u r e o f t h e E u r o p e a n R e p u b l i c o f L e t t e r s was an i m p o r t a n t venue i n w h i c h t h e s c i e n t i f i c movement a c h i e v e d i n t e l l e c t u a l e x p r e s s i o n , and i t was t h i s s t r a t a o f t h e E n l i g h t e n m e n t t h a t E r n s t C a s s i r e r s t u d i e d so f r u i t f u l l y o v e r s i x t y y e a r s a g o . 2 4 But he v i e w e d i t p r i m a r i l y as a movement o f t h o u g h t , whereas a more n u a n c e d p e r s p e c t i v e m i g h t see i t as b o t h a movement o f i d e a s and an e x e m p l a r y form o f r a t i o n a l , p u b l i c s o c i a b i l i t y . F i g u r e s l i k e L e s s i n g , A b b t and H e r d e r p a r t i c i p a t e d i n and drew upon t h i s w i d e r " p u b l i c , " a c t i n g as m e d i a t o r s between i t and t h e more modest German Publikum, w h i c h t h e y sought t o c o n s t i t u t e and c o n t e s t i n v a r i o u s ways p e c u l i a r t o them. I t i s i n t h i s way t h a t t h e e p o c h a l deve lopments i n n a t u r a l p h i l o s o p h y i n f l e c t e d t h e d i s c u s s i o n and f o r m a t i o n o f new forms o f s o c i a b i l i t y and p u b l i c c u l t u r e . T h i s new c u l t u r e was a print c u l t u r e . I n 1775 M a l e s h e r b e s , f o r m e r d i r e c t o r o f t h e F r e n c h book t r a d e , e x p r e s s e d n o t i o n s w h i c h A b b t and H e r d e r h a d begun d e v e l o p i n g a decade o r more b e f o r e : "What t h e o r a t o r s o f Rome and A t h e n s were i n t h e m i d s t o f a p e o p l e a s s e m b l e d , men o f l e t t e r s a r e i n t h e m i d s t o f a p e o p l e d i s p e r s e d . " A r e a d i n g p u b l i c was by i t s n a t u r e n o t o n l y more d i s p e r s e d , b u t a l s o more i n d i v i d u a l i s t i c and a t o m i s t i c t h a n a h e a r i n g o n e . D e s p i t e t h e f a c t t h a t new communal g a t h e r i n g p l a c e s - - b o o k s h o p s , c o f f e e h o u s e s , and r e a d i n g rooms—were a p p e a r i n g , " l i t e r a r i n e s s s t i l l imposed a new k i n d o f i s o l a t i o n . " I m p o r t a n t consequences f l o w e d from t h i s f a c t ; i t became e a s i e r t o r e g a r d s o c i e t y as b e i n g made up o f d i s c r e t e u n i t s , and a s h a r p e r d i v i s i o n between p r i v a t e l i f e and p u b l i c a f f a i r s was e n c o u r a g e d . "The n a t u r e o f man as a p o l i t i c a l a n i m a l was l e s s l i k e l y t o c o n f o r m to c l a s s i c a l mode ls a f t e r t r i b u n e s o f t h e p e o p l e were t r a n s m u t e d f rom o r a t o r s i n p u b l i c s q u a r e s t o e d i t o r s o f n e w s - s h e e t s and g a z e t t e s . " 2 5 P a r a d o x i c a l l y , w h i l e p r i n t on t h e one hand r e p r e s e n t e d a form o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n i n p r i n c i p l e more e g a l i t a r i a n t h a n t h a t o f f a c e - t o - f a c e c o n t a c t i n p u b l i c s q u a r e s , i t a l s o opened r e a d e r s to i n t i m a t e i n s t r u c t i o n on t h e a u t h o r ' s own t e r m s . B e s i d e s p o i n t i n g t o t h e m u t u a l a r t i c u l a t i o n o f p r i v a t e 1 0 i n d i v i d u a l i t y and p u b l i c i t y , t h i s p a r a d o x s u g g e s t s t h e t r a n s p o s i t i o n o f l o c a l t i e s i n t o l a r g e r n e t w o r k s . Communal s o l i d a r i t y was b e i n g l o o s e n e d as v i c a r i o u s p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n d i s t a n t e v e n t s was g r o w i n g . I n v i s i b l e p u b l i c s c o u l d be a d d r e s s e d from a f a r , as new forms o f community began c o m p e t i n g w i t h o l d e r , more l o c a l i z e d l o y a l t i e s . 2 6 These n o t i o n s a r e v a l u a b l e when l o o k i n g a t German d e v e l o p m e n t s ; t h e r e the p r i n t e d word , more t h a n any o t h e r medium, was t h e v e h i c l e f o r e x p a n d i n g forms o f p u b l i c l i f e . The w i d e s t new forum t h a t r e s u l t e d from the e x p a n s i o n o f p r i n t m e d i a was t h e E u r o p e a n R e p u b l i c o f L e t t e r s , an e n t i t y b o t h r e a l and r a t h e r e l u s i v e . I f P i e r r e B a y l e 1 s N o u v e l l e s de l a R e p u b l i o u e des L e t t r e s came f rom R o t t e r d a m , t h e l a n g u a g e o f t h e R e p u b l i c had changed d u r i n g the c o u r s e o f t h e s e v e n t e e n t h -c e n t u r y f rom L a t i n t o F r e n c h . But Amsterdam, r a t h e r t h a n P a r i s , seems t o have been i t s a c k n o w l e d g e d c e n t r e , h a v i n g been t h e e a r l i e s t p r o v i d e r o f E u r o p e a n n e w s p a p e r s , and c o n t i n u i n g to s e r v i c e newspaper r e a d e r s i n F r a n c e u n t i l t h e eve o f t h e F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n . N e v e r t h e l e s s , "A m a r g i n f o r u n c e r t a i n t y has t o be l e f t when one p i n p o i n t s t h e h e a d q u a r t e r s o r d e s i g n a t e s t h e f r o n t i e r s o f t h i s ' R e p u b l i c ' on r e a l maps. I t r e m a i n e d , from t h e b e g i n n i n g , a somewhat e l u s i v e , o f t e n d e l i b e r a t e l y m y s t e r i o u s , d o m a i n . " 2 7 P r i n t shops and p u b l i s h i n g houses were m i c r o - c e n t r e s o f t h i s R e p u b l i c , " m i n i a t u r e i n t e r n a t i o n a l houses" t h a t f o s t e r e d an e c u m e n i c a l e t h o s o f t o l e r a n c e and an a tmosphere c o n d u c i v e t o h e t e r o d o x i d e a s . Out o f a l l t h i s emerged a new c l a s s o f c a r e e r i s t men o f l e t t e r s who came f rom d i v e r s e s t r a t a o f s o c i e t y and u r g e d p e o p l e to t r u s t t h e i r own u n d e r s t a n d i n g and t o d i s a v o w c e n s o r s h i p and s u p e r s t i t i o n . I n t h e f i n a l a n a l y s i s , t h e p r i n t i n g p r e s s c r e a t e d "a new k i n d o f p u b l i c f o r idees forces."2S P a r i s i a n s a l o n s must a l s o be seen as c e n t r a l l o c i o f the (French ) E n l i g h t e n m e n t R e p u b l i c o f L e t t e r s . T r a d i t i o n a l l y m a r g i n a l i z e d as f r i v o l o u s , f e m i n i z e d c e n t r e s o f d i v e r s i o n f rom the " s e r i o u s " p r o j e c t o f E n l i g h t e n m e n t , t h e m i d - e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y s a l o n s o f f i g u r e s l i k e M a r i e - T h e r e s e G e o f f r i n , J u l i e de L e s p i n a s s e , and M a r i e Du D e f f a n d were i n f a c t i m p o r t a n t venues i n w h i c h E n l i g h t e n m e n t d i s c o u r s e was f o s t e r e d . Philosophes a d o p t e d t h e s a l o n s as 11 f o c a l points for t h e i r Republic of Letters, not l e a s t because t h e i r female "governors" provided the republic with a basis for order. 2 9 Whatever i t s location, t h i s new public d i d not include the vast majority of Europeans. Yet i n d i v i d u a l s could, through sheer force of w i l l and i n t e l l e c t , f i n d t h e i r way into l i t e r a t e p r i n t c u l t u r e : "The age of the hand-press was the f i r s t great age of the autodidact--and of the self-appointed tribune of the people who could address a vast public from a f a r . " 3 0 This new type of educated, l e t t e r e d i n d i v i d u a l began to come to the fore i n Europe i n the period a f t e r the T h i r t y Years War, and sought to unite the educated world above and beyond the borders of estate and nation around urbane i d e a l s and modes of l i v i n g , as well as the acknowledged q u a l i t i e s of s c i e n t i f i c c r i t i q u e . In a d d i t i o n to Bayle's Nouvelles de l a Republioue des Lettres (1684), C h r i s t i a n Thomasius's Freimiithiqen...Gedanken oder Monataesprache (1688-89) i s an important late-seventeenth century example of t h i s kind of discourse. 3 1 Perhaps the most well-known example of the new urbane, s c i e n t i f i c -c r i t i c a l approach to a l l manner of topics was Bayle's D i c t i o n n a i r e h i s t o r i a u e et c r i t i q u e (1697-1702), widely viewed as a foundation-text for the European Enlightenment. There Bayle discussed a wide range of p r i m a r i l y r e l i g i o u s and l i t e r a r y - p h i l o s o p h i c a l topics i n an open, c r i t i c a l and ecumenical s p i r i t that r e s u l t e d i n good deal of controversy. Although Bayle's work t y p i c a l l y lacked focus, i n a larger sense he was opening a f i e l d of discourse premised more or le s s on the c e r t a i n t i e s of the new science (for Bayle i t s Cartesian wing), as he aimed at d i s t i n g u i s h i n g between things l i k e "superstition"--which for Bayle had d i s t i n c t l y Catholic overtones—and c e r t a i n cold, hard, indubitable f a c t s . The r e s u l t , i n a s o c i o l o g i c a l sense, was a contribution to the formation of an emerging p u b l i c arena for r a t i o n a l negotiation of human understandings and concerns. That Lessing and Abbt were avid readers of Bayle i s therefore of some s i g n i f i c a n c e to t h i s study. 3 2 Scholars have recently begun to question whether such new arenas were as open, harmonius and r a t i o n a l as Habermas, and indeed the foregoing discussion, implies. A c o n f l i c t model of the public sphere has begun to replace 12 H a b e r m a s ' s " n o s t a l g i c " 3 3 v i s i o n o f a r e l a t i v e l y i n c l u s i v e and g e n t e e l b o u r g e o i s p u b l i c s p h e r e ; t h e emergence o f a modern p u b l i c s p h e r e , i t i s a r g u e d , i n v o l v e d a good d e a l o f c o n t e s t a t i o n and e x c l u s i o n o f " s u b a l t e r n groups" l i k e women. 3 4 K a r l Mannheim p r o p o s e d t h i s s o r t o f model o v e r s i x t y y e a r s ago , i n r e f e r e n c e t o "the meaning o f c o m p e t i t i o n i n t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l d o m a i n . " A c c o r d i n g to Mannheim, c o m p e t i n g p a r t i e s i n i n t e l l e c t u a l d i s c u s s i o n s t r u g g l e t o make t h e i r w o r l d v i e w t h e dominant " p u b l i c " w o r l d v i e w ; "the c o m p e t i n g p a r t n e r s a lways s t r u g g l e f o r t h e ' p u b l i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f b e i n g ' (an e x p r e s s i o n o f t h e p h e n o m e n o l o g i s t H e i d e g g e r ) . " E v e r y h i s t o r i c a l , i d e o l o g i c a l , s o c i o l o g i c a l form o f k n o w l e d g e - - " e v e n i f i t were t h e a b s o l u t e t r u t h " - - i s embedded i n o p e r a t i o n s o f power and t h e d e s i r e f o r r e c o g n i t i o n b y p a r t i c u l a r g r o u p s , "who want t o make t h e i r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e w o r l d i n t o t h e p u b l i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the w o r l d . " 3 5 E n l i g h t e n e d p u b l i c s were thus n o t o n l y a r e n a s o f s o c i a b i l i t y and " r a t i o n a l " d i s c u s s i o n , b u t a l s o s i t e s o f i n t e n s e c o n t r o v e r s y and e v e n t h e e x c l u s i o n o f v a r i o u s s o c i a l g r o u p s and s t r a t a . 3 6 I n d i v i d u a l s c o u l d have q u i t e d i f f e r e n t i d e a s about what t h e p u b l i c was o r s h o u l d b e , as we w i l l see l a t e r i n t h i s c h a p t e r i n German d i s c u s s i o n s about the n a t u r e o f t h e e m e r g i n g German Publikum. I n d e e d , one w o u l d e x p e c t t h a t i n a f o r m a t i v e p e r i o d s u c h as t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y , e m e r g i n g terms and p o i n t s o f r e f e r e n c e l i k e "the p u b l i c " w o u l d be open t o c o n t e s t a t i o n and r e f i g u r a t i o n a c c o r d i n g t o t h e g r o u p s and i n t e r e s t s a t work . T h i s p o i n t s h o u l d n o t o b s c u r e t h e f a c t , however , t h a t t h e q u e s t f o r g r e a t e r i n c l u s i o n and u n i t y o r harmony was o f t e n p r e s e n t , a n d c o u l d s e r v e a wide r a n g e o f p a r t i c u l a r i n t e r e s t s as w e l l as more g e n e r a l l y - s h a r e d c o n c e r n s . C o n t e m p o r a r y t h e o r i s t s m a i n t a i n t h a t t h e r e i s an u n r e s o l v e d t e n s i o n w i t h i n t h e c o n c e p t o f "the p u b l i c " between a u n i t a r y , a u t h o r i t a t i v e b o d y , and a more r e l a x e d , p l u r a l i s t i c p u b l i c - n e s s w h i c h i s a s h a r e d f e a t u r e o f many d i f f e r e n t c o l l e c t i v i t i e s . 3 7 T h i s i d e a o f a t e n s i o n between u n i t y and d i v e r s i t y has r e s o n a n c e i n the e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y ; i n t h e G e r m a n i e s t h e g e n e r a l t r e n d was towards o v e r c o m i n g the i s o l a t i o n b o r n o f t h e d i v e r s i t y o f 13 German l i f e w i t h a more coherent, u n i f i e d and enlightened p u b l i c sphere. Yet c e r t a i n questions are worth asking: How were competing voices to be accommodated? J u s t where was "the p u b l i c " ? Should i t c o n s i s t of one a u t h o r i t a t i v e v o i c e or should i t a l l o w a number of voices to be heard? Who was to be in c l u d e d or excluded, and what were i t s l i m i t s ? Feminists have maintained that gender served as a formative category i n eighteenth-century p u b l i c d i s c u s s i o n , and p a r t i c u l a r l y that of the French Rev o l u t i o n . Looking at the r e v i v e d c l a s s i c a l r e p u b l i c a n discourse of Rousseau and the r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s , i t i s argued that the e x c l u s i o n of women from the bourgeois p u b l i c was c e n t r a l to i t s i n c a r n a t i o n . The modern p u b l i c sphere, i n other words, i s seen to be " e s s e n t i a l l y , not j u s t c o n t i n g e n t l y , masculin-i s t . " 3 8 I n f l u e n t i a l contemporary f e m i n i s t arguments about the modern p u b l i c sphere have been b u i l t on t h i s view, 3 9 yet i t has re c e i v e d some searching c r i t i c i s m : the m a s c u l i n i s t r e p u b l i c a n discourse fastened upon by such authors was but one competing conception of the s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l arena imagined as an a l t e r n a t i v e to the Old Regime. 4 0 I t i s th e r e f o r e probably premature to r e i f y any one category of e x c l u s i o n or c o n t e s t a t i o n as being the c e n t r a l i s s u e at stake i n the emergence of the modern p u b l i c sphere. Not only i s i t premature, i t i s deeply problematic; the tendency to d i v i d e p u b l i c and p r i v a t e spheres along the l i n e s of gender may be too much of a r e p e t i t i o n of i d e o l o g i c a l claims, put forward by nineteenth-century w r i t e r s p a r t i c u l a r l y , to be much use as a category of h i s t o r i c a l enquiry. 4 1 I t may a l s o be that c r e a t i n g a b i n a r y o p p o s i t i o n between a p u b l i c sphere which exluded women, and a p r i v a t e , domestic sphere which they i n h a b i t e d , obscures the f a c t that "at l e a s t i n some sense, women had extensive p u b l i c l i v e s i n the eighteenth-century and that language was a v a i l a b l e to discuss and sometimes even l e g i t i m a t e t h i s f a c t . " 4 2 I f i t i s c l e a r that women were excluded i n important ways from the bourgeois p u b l i c sphere, and p a r t i c u l a r l y i t s nineteenth-century i n c a r n a t i o n , i t i s an overstatement to say that t h e i r e x c l u s i o n was s i n g u l a r l y c o n s t i t u t i v e of that arena. While i t was ha r d l y t h i n k a b l e i n the eighteenth-century that 14 women s h o u l d be c o n s i d e r e d s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l a c t o r s e q u a l i n s t a t u s t o men, i t was n o t u n t h i n k a b l e t h a t t h e y t o o c o u l d be c o n s i d e r e d members o f "the p u b l i c . " Among t h e a u t h o r s s t u d i e d i n t h i s work, the g e n e r a l i m p u l s e was towards i n c l u s i o n o f b r o a d e r s t r a t a o f German s o c i e t y i n p u b l i c d i s c o u r s e and as r e l e v a n t members o f the p u b l i c . T h e r e i s l i t t l e e v i d e n c e t o s u g g e s t t h a t women were t o be e x c l u d e d apriori f rom t h i s a r e n a , w h i l e a t t i m e s t h e y a r e e x p l i c i t l y c i t e d as r e l e v a n t p u b l i c a c t o r s . L e s s i n g ' s s t r o n g and w i t t y f emale d r a m a t i c c h a r a c t e r s , A b b t ' s p u b l i c - s p i r i t e d women, and H e r d e r ' s Volk-Publikum a l l s u g g e s t t h a t t h e r e was more a t work i n t h e f o r m a t i o n o f modern , " e n l i g h t e n e d " p u b l i c s t h a n the c o n c e r t e d , c o n s c i o u s e f f o r t t o e x c l u d e women. T h i s i s n o t t o s a y , however , t h a t s t a t u s h i e r a r c h i e s d i d n o t p e r s i s t within t h e e m e r g i n g p u b l i c s p h e r e , o r t h a t p r o c e s s e s o f " s i m u l t a n e o u s e n f r a n c h i s e m e n t and r e s t r i c t i o n " o f women were n o t t a k i n g p l a c e ; 4 3 o n l y t h a t t h e n o t i o n t h a t gender e x c l u s i o n s e r v e d as t h e p r i m a r y b a s i s f o r g i v i n g r i s e t o a b o u r g e o i s p u b l i c s p h e r e i n t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y o b s c u r e s t h e e x i s t e n c e o f d i f f e r i n g c i r c u m s t a n c e s , c o n c e r n s and c o n c e p t i o n s i m p l i c a t e d i n i t s emergence . B e t t e r t o l e a v e "the p u b l i c " open t o a number o f p o s s i b l e p e r m u t a t i o n s and c o m p e t i n g v i e w s , and t o r e a l i z e t h a t " s u b a l t e r n c o u n t e r -p u b l i c s " c a n emerge from among v a r i o u s s u b o r d i n a t e d s o c i a l g r o u p s , and t h a t t h e y c a n t h e m s e l v e s "he lp expand d i s c u r s i v e s p a c e . " 4 4 Thus a l t h o u g h i t may be u s e f u l t o t a l k about "the b o u r g e o i s p u b l i c sphere" i n t h e s i n g u l a r as a b r o a d c o n c e p t u a l c a t e g o r y , i t s h o u l d be assumed t h a t s u c h a s p h e r e c o u l d be composed o f m u l t i p l e p u b l i c s and e n v i s i o n e d i n d i f f e r e n t ways; i t was n o t a u n i t a r y phenomenon. I f t h e emergence o f modern p u b l i c s p h e r e s was marked b y a t l e a s t p o t e n t i a l c o n f l i c t and c o n t e s t a t i o n , a c e r t a i n amount o f c o n s t i t u t i n g a n d s h a p i n g o f t h e s e s p h e r e s was a l s o p a r t o f t h e p r o c e s s . These a r e i n a s ense two s i d e s o f t h e same c o i n . But n e v e r t h e l e s s t h e r e h a d t o be a t l e a s t t h e n o t i o n o f "the p u b l i c " p r e s e n t i n o r d e r f o r t h e r e t o e x i s t any m e a n i n g f u l s p h e r e o f c o n t e s t a t i o n ; "the p u b l i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f b e i n g " assumes b o t h an a u d i e n c e and an open exchange w i t h i n o r i n f r o n t o f t h a t a u d i e n c e . An d t h e 15 moment of constitution--the formation or envisioning of a p u b l i c — t h e o r e t -i c a l l y precedes that of any contestation within or before i t . S c h i l l e r stated t h i s problem, i n reference to the German theatre, as a paradox: " I t i s d i f f i c u l t for the stage to form a public before a pu b l i c has been formed f or the stage. 1 , 4 5 For Aufklarer (enlighteners) l i k e Lessing, Abbt and Herder, the c o n s t i t u t i o n of a r e l a t i v e l y coherent German public, out of the d i v e r s i t y of l i f e i n the Germanies, was of cen t r a l importance. To return to the terminology of Mead, they began to seek to unite various i n d i v i d u a l s and groups across the feudal spectrum into a higher l e v e l of s o c i a l - i n t e l l e c t u a l organization, one which i n a c e r t a i n sense answered to the richness and breadth of t h e i r own "selves," and more concretely, promised to be a forum f or t h e i r concerns and endeavours. 4 6 This process might best be thought of i n terms of the "shaping" of a public sphere, with i t s connotations of both b u i l d i n g something up which was imperfectly there, and gi v i n g that e n t i t y an i d e n t i f i a b l e character. What w i l l be of i n t e r e s t i s not only t h i s process of shaping that was going on, and the v i s i o n s of Publikum which were part of i t , but how i t i n turn i n f l e c t e d the form and content of enlightened discourse, which was c l e a r l y much more than a movement of ideas. Publics and P o l i t i c s i n England and France The notion of the r i s e of a modern public sphere has enabled h i s t o r i a n s of England and France to broaden the study of p o l i t i c s to include previously neglected developments, and to better understand emergent forms of s o c i a l and c u l t u r a l a c t i v i t y . Ian Watt located "the r i s e of the novel" i n an emerging English reading public i n the eighteenth-century, a l a r g e l y middle- to upper-c l a s s preserve that had been nurtured on "moral weeklies" l i k e the T a t l e r (1709) and Spectator (1711), and had an increasing amount of l e i s u r e time at i t s d i s p o s a l . This type of p e r i o d i c a l , which T.H. Green famously c a l l e d "the 16 f i r s t and best r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of that s p e c i a l s t y l e of l i t e r a t u r e - - t h e only r e a l l y popular l i t e r a t u r e of our time--which c o n s i s t s i n t a l k i n g to the p u b l i c about i t s e l f , 1 , 4 7 was widely copied i n Germany and s i m i l a r l y aided the r i s e of a s e l f - c o n s c i o u s , i f l i m i t e d , reading p u b l i c there. The T h i r d E a r l of Shaftesbury e x e r c i s e d a profound i n f l u e n c e on German t h i n k i n g about t h i s emerging p u b l i c , as we s h a l l see, concerned as he was "to create a new p u b l i c and gentlemanly c u l t u r e of c r i t i c i s m " based on emerging notions of s o c i a b i l i t y and " p o l i t e n e s s . " 4 8 The growth of a reading p u b l i c and increased r e f l e c t i o n on the mechanisms of s o c i a b i l i t y and p u b l i c l i f e were important features of an expanding p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e i n England. J.H. Plumb's work on the "gradual coherence of a s e l f - c o n s c i o u s middle-class p u b l i c " has f u r t h e r e d understanding of "the c u l t u r a l changes which enabled something l i k e a f r e e p o l i t i c a l l i f e to take shape i n the course of the eighteenth-century." 4 9 E.P. Thompson f o r h i s p a r t has s t i m u l a t e d r e f l e c t i o n on the p o l i t i c a l relevance of popular c u l t u r e and on the p u b l i c sphere "as a s t r u c t u r e d s e t t i n g i n which c e r t a i n forms of c u l t u r a l and i d e o l o g i c a l c o n t e s t a t i o n may take place r a t h e r than as the autonomous and c l a s s - s p e c i f i c achievement of the bourgeois c i t i z e n r y . " 5 0 Others have demonstrated that the n o t i o n of " p u b l i c opinion" i n England was not a French import, as has f r e q u e n t l y been supposed, but r a t h e r grew out of an E n g l i s h s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e which had long recognized " p u b l i c s p i r i t " as a c e n t r a l f i g u r e i n p u b l i c discourse. But although terms l i k e "the o p i n i o n of the p u b l i c " had p o l i t i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n before mid-century i n England, the idea of a p u b l i c as "a constant p o l i t i c a l a c t or" d i d not emerge u n t i l around 1780, when "p u b l i c opinion" or "-sentiment" began to be p e r c e i v e d to p l a y a r o l e i n e l e c t i o n s . The press, "the palladium of a l l other E n g l i s h l i b e r t i e s , " was a c e n t r a l f a c t o r i n t h i s "process of s e l f - r e c o g n i t i o n i n eighteenth-century p o l i t i c a l thought." 5 1 A r e v i t a l i z e d debate on the press and i t s freedom i n the 1760s and 1770s was t i e d to the emergence and d e f i n i t i o n of a popular p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e ; a changing p o l i t i c a l i n f r a s t r u c t u r e and the growing i n f l u e n c e of the press gave r i s e to o f t e n c o n t r o v e r s i a l 17 d e b a t e s on i t s p r o p e r r o l e i n E n g l i s h ' s o c i e t y . 5 2 T h i s growth o f a p u b l i c p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e a f t e r m i d - c e n t u r y i n E n g l a n d c o i n c i d e d w i t h t h e s t i r r i n g s o f an e n l i g h t e n e d , p r o t o - p o l i t i c a l " p u b l i c " i n Germany, and h e l p s t o c o n c e i v e o f t h e l i n k s , r a t h e r more tenuous t h e r e , between s o c i o - c u l t u r a l and p o l i t i c a l p r o c e s s e s . The movement from a r a t i o n a l - l i t e r a r y p u b l i c s p h e r e t o a more o v e r t l y p o l i t i c a l one has become a t o p i c o f much i n t e r e s t among s c h o l a r s o f t h e F r e n c h E n l i g h t e n m e n t and R e v o l u t i o n . On the one hand , some have l o o k e d t o a g r o w i n g , l i t e r a t e " p r i v a t e " c u l t u r e o f s a l o n s , c a f e s and c l u b s i n e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y F r a n c e f o r new forms o f s o c i a b i l i t y w h i c h l a i d t h e groundwork f o r an e m e r g i n g s t y l e o f r a t i o n a l p u b l i c d i s c o u r s e and " o p i n i o n " t h a t began to a p p r o p r i a t e power and a u t h o r i t y f rom the m o n a r c h y . 5 3 " O p i n i o n " had t r a d i t i o n a l l y been c a s t i n a n e g a t i v e l i g h t , as a p a r t i c u l a r i z e d , i r r a t i o n a l c o u n t e r p o i n t t o knowledge b o r n o f r a t i o n a l , u n i v e r s a l r e a s o n - - d o x a as o p p o s e d to gnosis. The s a l o n s i n p a r t i c u l a r h e l p e d g i v e r i s e t o a n o t i o n o f " r a t i o n a l p u b l i c o p i n i o n " b e c a u s e i t was t h e r e t h a t r a t i o n a l r u l e s o f d i s c u s s i o n and " p o l i t e c o n t r a d i c t i o n " s e r v e d t o m e d i a t e an " o p i n i o n " t h a t was b o t h " r a t i o n a l " a n d , i n a c i r c u m s c r i b e d s e n s e , " p u b l i c . " T h i s p e r s p e c t i v e i s i n f a c t g e n e r a l i z a b l e t o a r a n g e o f o t h e r l o c a t i o n s o f q u a s i - p u b l i c , r a t i o n a l d i s c u s s i o n l i k e s c i e n t i f i c and l i t e r a r y a c a d e m i e s ; t h e y too h e l p e d t o g i v e r i s e t o a s p e c i e s o f " o p i n i o n " t h a t was a p r o d u c t o f e x t e n d e d r a t i o n a l d i s c o u r s e . 5 4 K e i t h B a k e r ' s work has been i n f l u e n t i a l i n e x t e n d i n g t h e H a b e r m a s i a n theme i n t o F r e n c h s t u d i e s o f the E n l i g h t e n m e n t and R e v o l u t i o n . H i s I n v e n t i n g t h e F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n (1990) s i g n a l s a g e n e r a l t r e n d away f rom M a r x i s t a p p r o a c h e s t o t h e s e t o p i c s , and g r o w i n g i n t e r e s t i n t h e power o f l a n g u a g e o r d i s c o u r s e i n s h a p i n g e v e n t s . The p u b l i c s p h e r e i s s een as an a l t e r n a t i v e " d i s c u r s i v e space" w h i c h grew up u n d e r t h e O l d Regime and p r o v i d e d t h e c o n d i t i o n s i n w h i c h t h e R e v o l u t i o n became " t h i n k a b l e . " B a k e r c h a r t s t h e emergence o f t h r e e b a s i c d i s c o u r s e s o r " p o l i t i c a l l anguages" w h i c h c o n t e n d e d w i t h e a c h o t h e r , as a l t e r n a t i v e systems o f mean ing , w i t h i n t h i s s p a c e , and were b l e n d e d t o g e t h e r i n the p o l i t i c a l d i s c o u r s e o f t h e R e v o l u t i o n . 18 " P u b l i c opinion" was a c r u c i a l f i g u r e i n t h i s emerging p o l i t i c s of c o n t e s t a t i o n , a f i g u r e that Baker sees more as a " p o l i t i c a l i n v e n t i o n " than a s o c i o l o g i c a l e n t i t y . As a r h e t o r i c a l f i g u r e , p u b l i c o p i n i o n appeared " i n the context of a c r i s i s of absolute a u t h o r i t y i n which a c t o r s w i t h i n an a b s o l u t i s t system appealed to a 'pu b l i c ' beyond as a way of r e f o r m u l a t i n g i n s t i t u t i o n a l claims that could no longer be negotiated w i t h i n the t r a d i t i o n a l language." Baker's i m p r e s s i o n i s t i c work analyses a range of events and p o l i t i e s as formative i n the r i s e of discourses and a p u b l i c sphere of c o n t e s t a t i o n that together served to break French p o l i t i c s "out of the a b s o l u t i s t mold." 5 5 Others l i k e Robert Darnton concentrate on the p r i n t e d word as c o n s t i t u t i n g "a new p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e . " 5 6 L i k e Baker, Darnton sees " p u b l i c o p i n i o n " as an important for c e i n l a t e r eighteenth-century France, but he focuses l e s s on the l i n g u i s t i c s t r u g g l e f o r mastery of i t , than on the r o l e of d i v e r s e forms of p r i n t i n shaping, as w e l l as rec o r d i n g , t h i s s t r u g g l e . This approach concentrates on how "the change from o l d to new p u b l i c spheres a f f e c t [ e d ] the products of the p r i n t i n g press, and how...the l a t t e r i n t u r n c o n t r i b u t e [ d ] to the transformation of the p u b l i c , s p h e r e . " 5 7 This means paying s e r i o u s a t t e n t i o n to the r o l e .played by the press and p r i n t c u l t u r e i n the development of r e v o l u t i o n a r y discourse and democratic p o l i t i c s . The approaches of Darnton and Baker complement more than c o n t r a d i c t each other, and they share a common v i s i o n of an emerging p u b l i c sphere of dis c o u r s e , from mid-century on, that came to have a profound e f f e c t upon subsequent s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l events. Sara Maza has c o n t r i b u t e d to t h i s d i s c u s s i o n by demonstrating how the l i t e r a t u r e of j u d i c i a l scandal, i n co n j u n c t i o n w i t h an emerging bourgeois theatre concerned w i t h the i n t i m a t e experience of p r i v a t e ' l i f e , " c o ntributed to the b i r t h of p u b l i c o p i n i o n and a new p u b l i c sphere i n the decades j u s t before the French R e v o l u t i o n . " 5 8 In Germany too the growth of p r i n t c u l t u r e and a d o m e s t i c a l l y - o r i e n t e d t h e a t r e helped give r i s e to a wider forum of p u b l i c d i s c u s s i o n and indeed the "i n v e n t i o n " of a " p u b l i c " and l a t e r a "p u b l i c opinion" which co u l d be the obje c t s of c o n t e s t a t i o n and the l o c i of new a u t h o r i t y . 19 To a l a r g e e x t e n t p u b l i c o p i n i o n was d e b a t e d i n F r a n c e w i t h i n a " r e l i g i o n o f u n i t y ; " p u b l i c o p i n i o n was t y p i c a l l y seen as an anonymous t r i b u n a l o f a u t h o r i t y , v i s i b l e t o a l l , t h a t t o o k from t r a d i t i o n a l r e l i g i o u s and m o n a r c h i c a l models "components o f i n f a l l i b i l i t y , e x t e r n a l i t y , and u n i t y . " T h i s s o r t o f u n i t a r y " c o u n t e r f o r c e " to the crown was t r u l y a t home i n F r a n c e b e c a u s e i t , more t h a n E n g l a n d , was "a c o u n t r y d e v o t e d t o u n i t y . " " P u b l i c o p i n i o n " a r o s e a r o u n d 1750 i n F r a n c e as an e x p l i c i t l y r e c o g n i z e d e n t i t y , and men o f l e t t e r s , academies and t h e P a r l e m e n t s were seen t o be p r i m a r y c a r r i e r s o f i t . A l t h o u g h t h e emerg ing p u b l i c s p h e r e c o u l d be a s i t e o f c o n t e s t a t i o n , t h e " a r c h a i c dream o f i n t e g r a t i o n w i t h i n t h e c o l l e c t i v e " p e r s i s t e d w i t h i n t h i s new a r e n a , as e v i d e n c e d by u n i t a r y n o t i o n s o f " p u b l i c o p i n i o n . " 5 9 T h i s has r e s o n a n c e i n t h e German c o n t e x t , where p a r t i c u l a r i t y was f o r many i n t e l l e c t u a l s an o b s t a c l e to be overcome, t h e d e s i r e f o r a more u n i f i e d German Publikum b e g i n n i n g t o be f e l t f rom m i d - c e n t u r y o n . A l l i n a l l , e v e n t s s u r r o u n d i n g t h e r i s e o f p u b l i c s p h e r e s i n B r i t a i n and F r a n c e a r e o f more t h a n c o m p a r a t i v e i n t e r e s t to s t u d e n t s o f German p u b l i c c u l t u r e , s i n c e German t h i n k e r s were o f t e n w e l l a c q u a i n t e d w i t h B r i t i s h and F r e n c h s o c i a l and i n t e l l e c t u a l l i f e , and t h e i r r e f l e c t i o n s c o n c e r n i n g t h e r i s e o f modern p u b l i c s and c i v i l s o c i e t y were t y p i c a l l y i n f l u e n c e d by w i d e r E u r o p e a n d e v e l o p m e n t s . 6 0 Germany and t h e "Problem o f Publikum" D u r i n g t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y , t h e G e r m a n - s p e a k i n g a r e a o f E u r o p e was a p a t c h w o r k o f t e r r i t o r i e s c o n t r o l l e d by s e c u l a r and c l e r i c a l a u t h o r i t i e s , o f f r e e I m p e r i a l C i t i e s and t e r r i t o r i e s h e l d by I m p e r i a l K n i g h t s . L a i d o v e r t h e t o p o f t h i s v e r i t a b l e c o n s t e l l a t i o n o f c i t i e s , s t a t e s and p r o v i n c e s was a c o m p l i c a t e d s y s t e m o f l e g a l r i g h t s and d u t i e s . German s o c i e t y was c h a r a c t e r -i z e d b y a r e l a t i v e l y s t a t i c i f n o t u n i f o r m c o r p o r a t e o r d e r - - e s t a t e s - - a n d t h e p r e v a i l i n g form o f government was a b s o l u t i s t , whose f u n d a m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n and l e a d i n g i d e a was t h a t o f " s o c i a l d i s c i p l i n e . " I n t h i s c o n t e x t t h e p r i m a r y 20 units of s o c i a l movement were s p e c i f i c layers and groupings (e.g. guilds) of p a r t i c u l a r c i t i e s or states. The vast majority of the population--90% i n 1800--lived on the land or i n v i l l a g e s of less than 5000 people, while the res t l i v e d i n the towns or c i t i e s . L i t e r a c y estimates are low--perhaps 15% of the population were p o t e n t i a l readers i n 1770, and "songbook, catechism and Bible remained for many the only reading m a t e r i a l . " 6 1 The towns and c i t i e s were the c a r r i e r s of Enlightenment i n Germany, as elsewhere; feudal i n e q u a l i t i e s were more e a s i l y overcome there, g i v i n g them a status exceptional to the general a b s o l u t i s t environment and conducive to the growth of an educated, service e l i t e that helped to foster Enlightenment i d e a l s . Emerging i n part from the t r a d i t i o n a l c i v i c burghers, t h i s r i s i n g group achieved, p r i m a r i l y through education, p o s i t i o n s i n the expanding u n i v e r s i t i e s and bureaucracies, i n the p r i n c e l y courts and the state churches, or as doctors and l e g a l c o u n c i l l o r s . Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Abbt, and Johann G o t t f r i e d Herder were very much a part of t h i s movement, which i s generally seen as one of the most important s o c i a l features of the Aufklarung, a large l i t e r a t u r e having grown up around the phenomenon of an expanding Biirgertum or t h i r d estate. 6 2 But the German Enlightenment, or Aufklarung, l i k e t h i s new educated Burger turn,63 expanded slowly during the course of the eighteenth-century, gaining momentum i n i t s second ha l f , but not r e a l l y reaching into the lowest orders of society u n t i l the nineteenth-century. Change was slow i n coming, both i n terms of reform and the development of a p o l i t i c a l l y self-conscious mass of " c i t i z e n s . " One cannot speak of a general Biirgertum as c a r r i e r of the Aufklarung, rather only s p e c i f i c parts of i t here and there, coupled with the not inconsiderable e f f o r t s of i n d i v i d u a l members of the n o b i l i t y . 6 4 German society remained p a t e r n a l i s t i c , based on notions of natural hierarchy, an a r i s t o c r a c y of the educated and well-to-do, and noble/ p a t r i a r c h a l authority within a household economy.65 German p o l i t i c a l philosophy mirrored t h i s s i t u a t i o n by entertaining an ancient notion of " c i v i l s o ciety"--a p r i m a r i l y p o l i t i c a l grouping of c i t i z e n s who were masters of t h e i r 21 own socio-economic unit, the oikos or household, which could include women, slaves, tenants, day-labourers, etc. With the breakup of the noble/ p a t r i a r c h a l household and the onset of p r i v a t i z e d socio-economic r e l a t i o n s , and the concomitant r a t i o n a l i z a t i o n and c e n t r a l i z a t i o n of p o l i t i c a l authority, the term " c i v i l society" came to be applied ( f i r s t i n the writings of Hegel) to the n o n - p o l i t i c a l , p r i m a r i l y economic realm of s o c i e t y . 6 6 This t r a n s i t i o n , slow and uneven, was accompanied by the emergence of what Habermas termed a "bourgeois public sphere" (biirgerliche O f f e n t l i c h k e i t ) , or p u b l i c sphere of burgher-citizens, 6 7 i n which pr i v a t e i n d i v i d u a l s a r t i c u l a t e d t h e i r i n t e r e s t s , and which thus mediated between an emerging c i v i l s o c i e t y and the state. But a l l of t h i s occurred l a t e r i n Germany than elsewhere i n Europe; during the middle of the eighteenth-century and i n the decades thereafter t h i s sort of common public sphere, along with a general sense of " s t a t e - c i t i z e n " {Staatsbiirger) i n the modern sense, was only beginning to develop. 6 8 The lack of a consciousness of c i t i z e n s h i p i n a lar g e r s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l e n t i t y went hand-in-hand with the lack of a developed German pu b l i c sphere, what I w i l l c a l l the "problem of Publikum."69 The f i r s t s t i r r i n g s of a wider p o l i t i c a l consciousness, c l e a r l y t i e d to an expanding Biirgertum, i s normally seen to have begun i n Germany i n the 1770s. Scholars date the beginning of both l i b e r a l and conservative " p o l i t i c a l currents" i n Germany from t h i s time, arguing that modern German Liberalism, i n p a r t i c u l a r , has i t s roots i n the Aufklarung.10 But i f a la r g e r sense of p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y had begun to emerge, the norm at t h i s time remained one> of profound divisions—between estates, regions, and even cultures, i . e . the p r o l i f e r a t i o n of d i a l e c t s and the use of French and L a t i n among nobles and academics. 7 1 The widest gulf existed between the cultured classes of n o b i l i t y and upper-middle groups of academics, c l e r i c s , and administrators, on the one hand, and the large number of farmers, handworkers, labourers and other members of the lowest orders of society. In the middle stood a v a r i o u s l y figured burgher (Biirger) order, a term which could describe everyone from the most elevated members of towns and c i t i e s to the t o t a l i t y of 22 town- and c i t y - d w e l l e r s i n c o n t r a s t to p e o p l e l i v i n g and w o r k i n g on t h e l a n d . The Biirgertum was hence n e i t h e r a c l a s s n o r a " b o u r g e o i s i e , " b e i n g composed o f h e t e r o g e n o u s l a y e r s and g r o u p i n g s w i t h i n s o c i e t y . 7 2 An i m p o r t a n t s o c i a l deve lopment i n the Aufklarung, one t h a t c a n be s een i n p a r t as a r e s p o n s e t o the h e t e r o g e n e i t y and l a c k o f a common s o c i o -p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e i n t h e G e r m a n i e s , was t h e emergence o f v a r i o u s e n l i g h t e n e d and p a t r i o t i c s o c i e t i e s , r e a d i n g c i r c l e s , and c l u b s . These o r g a n i z a t i o n s were "a s p e c i a l p o i n t o f c r y s t a l l i z a t i o n and an i m p o r t a n t forum f o r e n l i g h t e n e d and r e f o r m i s t d i s c o u r s e and a c t i v i t i e s , as w e l l as biirgerlich s e l f - d i s c o v e r y and c l a s s - f o r m a t i o n . " 7 3 These s o c i e t i e s , w h i c h began to r e a l l y grow i n number a f t e r m i d - c e n t u r y , were p l a c e s i n w h i c h i n d i v i d u a l s ( m o s t l y men) f rom t h e m i d d l i n g and u p p e r o r d e r s c o u l d meet and i n t e r a c t o u t s i d e o f t h e e x i s t i n g f e u d a l / r e l i g i o u s s o c i a l s t r u c t u r e s , on a more o r l e s s e g a l i t a r i a n , r a t i o n a l b a s i s . L i t e r a r y and p h i l o s o p h i c a l d i s c u s s i o n s s e r v e d b o t h t o e d u c a t e t h e i n d i v i d u a l and f o s t e r s o c i a l deve lopment and r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . A t r o o t , t h e s o c i e t i e s s e r v e d as "a s o c i e t a l f rame, i n w h i c h t h e members c o u l d b e g i n t o f i n d , a r t i c u l a t e and p r o p a g a t e t h e i r common i n t e r e s t s . " The s o c i e t i e s n u r t u r e d a " d i s c u r s i v e s o c i a b i l i t y " t h a t s t o o d o u t s i d e o f t r a d i t i o n a l , c o r p o r a t e s t r u c t u r e s , a l l o w i n g t h e new Biirgertum w h i c h composed t h e s e s o c i e t i e s to b e g i n to f a s h i o n a s e l f - u n d e r s t a n d i n g drawn from t h e norms o f modern s c i e n c e , t h e E n l i g h t e n m e n t , and b u r g h e r m o r a l i t y . On t h e o t h e r h a n d , most members d i d n o t c a r r y t h i s new s e l f - u n d e r s t a n d i n g v e r y f a r b e y o n d t h e l i m i t s o f t h e s o c i e t i e s . 7 4 I n h i s p a t h - b r e a k i n g s t u d y o f s i x t y y e a r s ago , E r n s t Manheim e m p h a s i z e d t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e s e s o c i e t i e s and c l u b s i n p r o v i d i n g a s o c i a l b a s i s f o r t h e emergence o f an e n l i g h t e n e d " p u b l i c " and " p u b l i c o p i n i o n . " Manheim a r g u e d t h a t t h e s e o r g a n i z a t i o n s a c t e d b o t h as i n d i v i d u a t i n g and s o c i a l i z i n g a g e n t s among t h e m i d d l e and u p p e r o r d e r s ; and t h i s deve lopment was a component i n t h e g e n e r a l p r o c e s s o f Vergesellschaftung ( s o c i e t y - f o r m a t i o n ) , a " c o n s t i t u e n t f a c t o r " o f t h e modern a g e . 7 5 A l t h o u g h t h e n e t e f f e c t o f t h e s e " s e c o n d a r y s o c i e t i e s " s h o u l d n o t be o v e r e s t i m a t e d , 7 6 i t i s a p p r o p r i a t e to v i e w them as 23 i m p o r t a n t examples o f t h e i n t e r p e n e t r a t i o n o f E n l i g h t e n m e n t and s o c i a l d e v e l o p m e n t ; f i r s t s t e p s t o w a r d t h e c r e a t i o n o f a w i d e r s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l c u l t u r e and t h e r i s e o f a German p u b l i c s p h e r e , a more u n i t e d , u n i v e r s a l forum t h a t w o u l d h e l p overcome the p a r t i c u l a r l y German "prob lem o f Publikum." A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t f e a t u r e o f the Aufklarung-was i t s r e l i g i o u s , p r i m a r i l y P r o t e s t a n t , c a s t . U n l i k e i n F r a n c e , where a c e r t a i n d e g r e e o f i r r e l i g i o n i n f o r m e d t h e E n l i g h t e n m e n t movement, i n Germany " e n l i g h t e n m e n t and p i e t y went h a n d i n h a n d . " 7 7 I n n o r t h e r n a r e a s , t h e Aufklarung became a k i n d o f P r o t e s t a n t l a y t h e o l o g y w h i c h drew upon t h e p h i l o s o p h y o f t h e u n i v e r s i t i e s and L u t h e r a n d o c t r i n e s r e i n v i g o r a t e d by P i e t i s m , w i t h o u t b e i n g r e d u c i b l e t o t h e m . 7 8 P i e t i s m p l a y e d an i m p o r t a n t r o l e i n the r e f o r m i s t measures u n d e r t a k e n b y F r i e d r i c h W i l h e l m I i n e a r l y e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y P r u s s i a ; p i e t i s m " p o w e r f u l l y r e i n f o r c e d and h e l p e d l e g i t i m a t e [ h i s ] f u n d a m e n t a l r e s t r u c t u r i n g o f t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i v e , m i l i t a r y and economic l i f e o f h i s k i n g d o m , " by i n c u l c a t i n g o b e d i e n c e , p e r s o n a l m o r a l i t y and d i s c i p l i n e , and u n c o n d i t i o n a l s e r v i c e t o t h e s t a t e i n the p o p u l a t i o n a t l a r g e . 7 9 R a t i o n a l i s t P r u s s i a n t h e o l o g i a n s and c h u r c h l e a d e r s were e s s e n t i a l l y p u b l i c s e r v a n t s o f P r u s s i a n r e f o r m i s t a b s o l u t i s m , w i t h t h e i r emphasis on t o l e r a n c e , d u t y , p r a c t i c a l p i e t y a n d t h e d e v o t i o n to t h e common g o o d . 8 0 The g e n e r a l l y u t i l i t a r i a n c a s t o f t h e P r o t e s t a n t E n l i g h t e n m e n t i n t h e Germanies worked w e l l w i t h i n t h e e x i s t i n g s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l framework: i n d i v i d u a l s e l f - r e a l i z a t i o n was u n d e r s t o o d t o o c c u r w i t h i n a h i e r a r c h i c a l l y s t r u c t u r e d , p a t e r n a l i s t i c s o c i a l m i l i e u . 8 1 A l t h o u g h t h i s sense o f r e l i g i o u s s u b m i s s i o n t o w o r l d l y a u t h o r i t i e s i s c l e a r l y t r a c e a b l e t o t h e t e a c h i n g s o f M a r t i n L u t h e r , t h e c l o s e r e l a t i o n s h i p between P r o t e s t a n t i s m , p a r t i c u l a r l y , and " e n l i g h t e n e d a b s o l u t i s m " r e a l l y t o o k shape i n t h e a f t e r m a t h o f t h e T h i r t y Y e a r s War. The s o c i a l d i s c i p l i n i n g o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n t h r o u g h the p a t e r n a l i s t i c a u t h o r i t y o f t e r r i t o r i a l s o v e r e i g n s and c h u r c h a u t h o r i t i e s now expanded more f u l l y b e c a u s e i t met w i t h l e s s r e s i s t a n c e . T h i s h a d a permanent impac t on the s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l c o n s c i o u s n e s s o f t h e German p e o p l e , g i v i n g r i s e to "those h a b i t s o f s e r v i l i t y , o f a p p e a l t o a u t h o r i t y , and o f an a b s e n t p u b l i c s p i r i t t h a t was so a p p a r e n t t o 24 foreign v i s i t o r s and German c r i t i c s i n the eighteenth-century." 8 2 If the Aufklarung was unique i n the degree to which r e l i g i o u s and p a t e r n a l i s t i c values r e i n f o r c e d each other, i t was also o r i g i n a l i n i t s accomodation with cameralism (a German form of mercantilism or s t a t i s t economic p o l i c y 8 3 ) , a r e l a t i o n s h i p supported by the sort of C h r i s t i a n s o c i a l d i s c i p l i n e described above. Although "enlightened absolutism" i n the Germanies was neither as enlightened nor as absolute as many have thought, aspects of the Aufklarung and the cameralism of a b s o l u t i s t regimes were mutually r e i n f o r c i n g . 8 4 But although i t i s r i g h t to assert that absolutism was accepted by most philosophes and Aufklarer, i t would be misleading to imply that i n d i v i d u a l s l i k e Lessing, Abbt and e s p e c i a l l y Herder were p a r t i c u l a r l y supportive of, or oriented towards, a b s o l u t i s t regimes. 8 5 Such i n d i v i d u a l s , as part of a r i s i n g c l a s s of educated burghers (das gebildete Biirgertum), struggled to help give r i s e to a p u b l i c sphere of a c t i v i t y that was eventually to e c l i p s e the t i g h t r e l a t i o n s h i p between church, educated e l i t e s , and a b s o l u t i s t regimes. Thus although a p i e t i s t i c a l l y reinvigorated Protestantism was c e n t r a l to the Aufklarung, i t w i l l not play a large r o l e i n t h i s story because the emergence of a German pu b l i c sphere i n large part represented a gradual s h i f t away from r e l i g i o u s and other entrenched bases of authority--which were mutually-r e i n f o r c i n g elements of the p r e v a i l i n g a b s o l u t i s t system—towards an authority rooted i n the "enlightened," r a t i o n a l or i n t u i t i v e s o c i a l processes of the Publikum i t s e l f . This s h i f t occurred only i n f i t s and s t a r t s , however, and for the most part the middling and upper orders maintained a fragmented and ambivalent p o s i t i o n i n German society. If for example a new order of educated burghers began to take p o s i t i o n s within s t a t e / p r i n c e l y bureaucracies, the church, and u n i v e r s i t i e s , and hence represented a new cl a s s of r e l a t i v e l y independent-minded i n d i v i d u a l s , on the other hand i t was a portion of the t h i r d estate that was l a r g e l y dependent upon the r u l i n g e l i t e s . At centuries' end, F r e i h e r r von Knigge put the matter t h i s way: "In what consists the larger part 25 of our t i e r s - e t a t ? In those who serve princes: c o u n c i l l o r s , s e c r e t a r i e s , bureaucrats, o f f i c i a l s . . . advocates, doctors and the l i k e , a l l of whom l i v e more or le s s on the crumbs which f a l l from the master's t a b l e . " 8 6 Most large merchants and manufacturers were i n close contact with the state and n o b i l i t y , while Kaufleute, or those of middling status engaged i n commerce, as well as most other t r a d i t i o n a l burghers, remained for the most part rather pious, reserved, and narrowly l i t e r a t e i n the eighteenth-century. 8 7 The academic estate [Gelehrtenstand) existed somewhat apart from the t r a d i t i o n a l burgher orders and consisted p r i m a r i l y of u n i v e r s i t y professors, lawyers, j u r i s t s , c l e r i c s , administrators and the l i k e . Although there had been movement between the middling burgher orders and the Gelehrtenstand since the beginning of the eighteenth-century, i t remained a r e l a t i v e l y s p e c i a l i z e d and inward-looking s t r a t a of German society; the works of Aufklarer l i k e Lessing, Abbt and Herder were informed with the desire to mediate between t h i s high-flown academic estate--and by extension the .Republic of Letters--and the middling and even lower orders of German .society. F r i e d r i c h N i c o l a i , Abbt's f r i e n d and publisher, wrote i n 1773 that the " l i t t l e Volk" of 20,000 academics "ignores the other 20,000,000 (Germans)... so h e a r t i l y , that i t can hardly gather the energy to write anything for them; and when i t does, the r e s u l t smells so much of the study that no one w i l l touch i t . " 8 8 Abbt had made s i m i l a r sorts of comments a decade e a r l i e r . 8 9 Thus the opening up of the "Republic of Letters" and the turn towards Publikum had just begun i n the t h i r d quarter of the eighteenth-century. 9 0 Another important contextual factor i s the existence of the Holy Roman Empire as a c o n s t i t u t i o n a l framework for German society. By the end of the eighteenth-century the Empire remained, i f not much else, a c u l t u r a l and s p i r i t u a l point of reference i n German s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l thought, the one u n i v e r s a l e n t i t y which protected a fundamental set of "German" values, most importantly the c o n s t i t u t i o n a l condition which allowed a good measure of l o c a l autonomy and i n d i v i d u a l i z e d forms of expression. 9 1 The Empire has been r e f e r r e d to i n t h i s regard as a " c o n s t i t u t i o n a l incubator," which i n allowing 26 and even demanding a c e r t a i n weakness i n i n d i v i d u a l p o l i t i e s , created a r e l a t i v e l y stable environment for the growth of highly i n d i v i d u a l i z e d "hometowns."92 If there was a structure present which served to u n i f y a l l German-speakers, i t d i d so only i n the context of providing basic conditions for Germanic d i v e r s i t y . P r i n t Culture and the "Public Writer" One of the most s i g n i f i c a n t developments i n the Aufklarung and i n the r i s e of a German public sphere was the expansion, p a r t i c u l a r l y from the mid-eighteenth century, i n printed l i t e r a t u r e of a l l kinds, and the concomitant emergence of what I w i l l c a l l the "public writer." No other trends d i d more to e s t a b l i s h at le a s t the promise of a common German s o c i o - i n t e l l e c t u a l form of l i f e , something that could transcend the p a r t i c u l a r i t y of the Germanies and serve as the foundation for a common p o l i t i c a l c ulture. Part and parc e l of t h i s growth i n p r i n t e d l i t e r a t u r e was the spread of the Enlightenment, a loose consensus of assumptions and b e l i e f s that transcended national and r e l i g i o u s boundaries. 9 3 Lessing, Abbt and Herder worked as Aufklarer within t h i s context of an expanding p r i n t culture, and i n many respects were involved i n the shaping of a broader German Publikum as a function of that culture; as such they pioneered the r o l e of the "public writer." There were both quantitative and q u a l i t a t i v e changes i n German l i t e r a r y production during the course of the eighteenth-century. Although firm figures are elusive, i t i s cl e a r that t o t a l l i t e r a r y production grew s i g n i f i c a n t l y , p a r t i c u l a r l y from mid-century. It i s estimated that two-thirds of the 175,000 book t i t l e s produced i n the eighteenth-century appeared a f t e r 1760.94 Moral weeklies patterned a f t e r the English models of the Spectator and T a t l e r f l o u r i s h e d during the e a r l i e r part.of the century into the 1760s, 9 5 while a range of new l i t e r a r y , p h i l o s o p h i c a l and even p o l i t i c a l journals were published during the second h a l f of the century, Lessing's B r i e f e . die neueste 27 L i t t e r a t u r betreffend (1759) being an e a r l y example of t h i s trend. 9 6 Novels began to be read more widely i n Germany from the 1720s on, with a large increase beginning around 1740. Reading s o c i e t i e s began to f l o u r i s h around 1760, as b i i r g e r l i c h readers began to read much more widely and extensively. The commercialization of l i t e r a t u r e during the second h a l f of the century l e d to an increase i n the power of writers and publishers to give r i s e to audiences for t h e i r materials and to shape the l i t e r a r y f i e l d . The number of writers ( S c h r i f t s t e l l e r ) rose dramatically during the l a t t e r decades of the century; i t i s commonly held that they doubled i n number between 1770 and 1790, to around 7000. Yet "The d i f f i c u l t i e s of developing and bringing to f r u i t i o n a national and b i i r g e r l i c h l i t e r a r y programme, i n view of...[the p r e v a i l i n g ] p o l i t i c a l and s o c i a l conditions, are evident. The t e r r i t o r i a l and s o c i a l fragmentation of authorship repeated i t s e l f i n Publikum."91 Thus the problem of a fragmented, elusive Publikum must be kept i n mind as an obstacle which was not e a s i l y , nor by any means immediately, -overcome. Probably the most s i g n i f i c a n t early development which prepared the ground for the emergence of an enlightened German Publikum, however imperfect, was the r i s e of the moral weekly (moralische Wochenschrift). Many Aufklarer, i n c l u d i n g Abbt and Lessing, wrote for them at some point i n t h e i r career, and the growth of the genre, beginning around 1720 and f l o u r i s h i n g from 1740-1760, r e f l e c t e d the emergence of b i i r g e r l i c h public consciousness and growing p u b l i c p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the Enlightenment. Patterned p a r t i c u l a r l y a f t e r the English Spectator, the moral weeklies i n i t i a t e d the process whereby "virtue" was slowly detached from a more or less private, C h r i s t i a n i d e n t i t y , and given more of a this-worldly, public character. Broad, middling segments of p r i m a r i l y Protestant areas were addressed, by the 100-200 t i t l e s which appeared i n the course of the eighteenth-century, as equals by f i c t i v e characters who preached a p r a c t i c a l , community-oriented sense of v i r t u e i n simple language. 9 8 The f i c t i v e authorship of the p e r i o d i c a l s allowed a l l sorts of new and i n t e r e s t i n g dynamics to develop; anonymity allowed readers to be addressed 28 intimately, without embarassment, as in d i v i d u a l s who had pub l i c s i g n i f i c a n c e . Individuals not used to self-representation i n an e s s e n t i a l l y e g a l i t a r i a n p u b l i c sphere could encounter one another free of t r a d i t i o n a l r e s t r a i n t s . The moral weeklies were thus important e a r l y instruments of both i n d i v i d u a l and s o c i a l formation, p a r t i c u l a r l y among the new educated (gebildete) Biirgertum.". Their o r i g i n a l i t y i n t h i s i s e a s i l y overlooked because of the genre's f l a t and blandly r e p e t i t i o u s character. They were the f i r s t p e r i o d i c a l s to engage women to any degree, indeed some of them were written p r i m a r i l y for a female audience. Those who argue that the bourgeois p u b l i c sphere was predicated upon the exclusion of women must come to grips with the fact that the most s i g n i f i c a n t e a r l y German form of b i i r g e r l i c h p u b l i c discourse had a decidedly feminine cast, and assumed that both sexes would be involved i n i t . The genre's novelty i n p u b l i c l y addressing issues formerly encompassed by C h r i s t i a n p i e t y and p a t e r n a l i s t i c obedience was recognized e a r l y on by in d i v i d u a l s opposed to Hamburg's Patr i o t , who asked by what r i g h t i t set i t s e l f up as a " d i s c i p l i n a r i a n " (Zuchtmeister) over "private" a f f a i r s that should be governed by pastors and c i v i l a u t h o r i t i e s . In beginning to bridge the h i s t o r i c a l chasm between learned and unlearned readers, the moral weeklies pioneered the development of an "educated common language" (gebildete Gemeinsprache) and a broad l i t e r a r y p u b l i c . 1 0 0 The moral weeklies helped give r i s e to a receptive German reading p u b l i c for the genre of the moral-sentimental novel that began to appear i n the 1740s, and i s associated with Richardson's Pamela (1740). Translations of English and French works of t h i s type began to be read by the educated Biirgertum as well as members of the n o b i l i t y , u n t i l German l i t e r a t u r e began to come in t o i t s own i n the 1770s. By t h i s time the previous d i v i s i o n between noble-courtly l i t e r a t u r e and other forms had dissolved, leaving an expanded (both i n terms of numbers and s e n s i b i l i t y ) novel-reading p u b l i c encompassing the educated Biirgertum as well as the n o b i l i t y . 1 0 1 Rolf Engelsing speaks about the change i n reading habits which took 29 place from mid-century onward i n terms of a movement from "intensive" to "extensive" reading and the development of the secular, i n d i v i d u a l imagination. Writers l i k e Klopstock (1724-1803) and G e l l e r t (1715-1769) were t r a n s i t i o n a l figures i n German l i t e r a t u r e who appealed to the middling classes with a mixture of devotional and non-religious subject matter i n a language that those without a strong educational background could understand. The general trend i n l i t e r a r y production was unmistakable: the percentage of t h e o l o g i c a l or devotional works declined s t e a d i l y over the course of the century, while various forms of more worldly l i t e r a t u r e , i n c l u d i n g philosophy and b e l l e s - l e t t r e s , began to command an increased share of the market. 1 0 2 This change i n reading habits s i g n a l l e d a fundamental change i n s e l f -understanding; i n d i v i d u a l s from the middling orders began to break out of t r a d i t i o n a l r e l i g i o u s and p a t e r n a l i s t i c channels and to c u l t i v a t e themselves i n more aesthetic, p h i l o s o p h i c a l and imaginative ways. But i f h i g h l y i n t e l l i g e n t and educated i n d i v i d u a l s l i k e Lessing, Abbt and Herder exemplified t h i s trend already i n the t h i r d quarter of the century, i t only began to occur i n any widespread sense during i t s l a s t decades. 1 0 3 The emergence of such an expanded, l i t e r a r y "biirgerlich i n t e l l i g e n c e " and the "free writer" i n the l a t e r eighteenth-century has been a focus of i n t e r e s t for some scholars. But whereas studies done from t h i s perspective tend to focus on the formation and "emancipation" of an enlightened Biirgertum and on the "free writer," the present study w i l l look at these developments i n terms of an expanding, problematic Publikum, and the emergence of the "public writer." The d i f f e r e n c e i s subtle but consequential, allowing for the i n c l u s i o n of wider s o c i a l s t r a t a i n the analysis, and recognizing that the "free writer" was more of an i d e a l than a r e a l i t y . Hans Gerth's Biircrerliche I n t e l l i a e n z urn 1800 (1935, 1976), s t i l l a useful work on the topic, was i n many ways a precursor to Habermas's work. Working within the continental s o c i o l o g i c a l t r a d i t i o n , Gerth charted the r i s e of b i i r g e r l i c h " i n t e l l i g e n c e " i n terms of both a growing dichotomy between "Gemeinschaft" and "Gesellschaft" (Tonnies), and the development of an 30 i n c r e a s i n g l y p o l i t i c i z e d , mass p r e s s , p a r t i c u l a r l y a t t h e end o f t h e c e n t u r y . M i d d l e - o r d e r l i f e came t o be d i v i d e d between t h e i n t i m a t e f a m i l y and p u b l i c a c t i v i t y , as a more n a t i o n a l , " e m a n c i p a t i v e " l i t e r a t u r e began t o emerge. D i v e r s e t y p e s o f newspapers were g r a d u a l l y r e p l a c e d by more u n i v e r s a l ones w h i c h a d d r e s s e d a wide range o f c u l t u r a l - p o l i t i c a l q u e s t i o n s , some o f t h e most i m p o r t a n t examples b e i n g W i e l a n d s ' T e u t s c h e r Merkur. S c h l o z e r ' s S t a a t s -a n z e i a e r . Das d e u t s c h e Museum, and t h e B e r l i n i s c h e M o n a t s s c h r i f t . Through t h e p r e s s and t h e emergence o f p u b l i c o p i n i o n as a f o r c e t o be r e c k o n e d w i t h a t t h e end o f t h e c e n t u r y , t h e b u r g h e r o r d e r s began t o c o h e r e i n t o a s e l f -c o n s c i o u s m i d d l e c l a s s i n w h i c h h i e r a r c h i c a l d i v i s i o n s were l e v e l l e d , and t h e s l o g a n s o f "freedom" and " l i b e r t y " - - e a r l y l i b e r a l i s m - - b e g a n t o be h e a r d . 1 0 4 T h i s s t o r y - l i n e , though u s e f u l , i s o v e r l y o p t i m i s t i c and t e l e o l o g i c a l . I n l o o k i n g f o r w a r d t o t h e r i s e o f modern, l i b e r a l c u l t u r e . i t g l o s s e s o v e r t h e s t a t i c n a t u r e o f German l i f e , and t h e t e n s i o n s and c o n t r a d i c t i o n s between l i b e r a l " p r o g r e s s " and t h e e v e r y d a y s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l r e a l i t i e s f a c e d by Germans. Thus a l t h o u g h t h e p r e s s , f o r example, d i d t a k e on many o f t h e a t t r i b u t e s c i t e d above, w r i t e r s o f t e n o v e r v a l u e d t h e p r a c t i c a l e f f e c t s o f t h e i r w r i t i n g s . 1 0 5 I f a c e r t a i n p o l i t i c i z a t i o n o f t h e German E n l i g h t e n m e n t d i d b e g i n t o o c c u r i n t h e l a t e r e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y v i a t h e p e r i o d i c a l p r e s s and t h e emergence o f an e d u c a t e d r e a d i n g p u b l i c and p u b l i c o p i n i o n , t h e v a l u a t i o n of t h e s e e n t i t i e s depended upon one's p e r s p e c t i v e , and p o l i t i c a l d e c i s i o n s were s t i l l l e f t up t o t h e supposed r a t i o n a l judgement o f p r i n c e s . 1 0 6 And as w i l l be d i s c u s s e d f u r t h e r below, t h e n o t i o n s o f Publikum and p u b l i c o p i n i o n were p r o b l e m a t i c a l , t o s a y t h e l e a s t , d u r i n g t h e second h a l f o f t h e c e n t u r y . One o f t h e more i m p o r t a n t r e c e n t works t h a t t e l l s t h e s t o r y of t h e r i s e o f b x i r g e r l i c h " i n t e l l i g e n c e " and f r e e w r i t e r s i s Hans H a f e r k o r n ' s "Zur E n t s t e h u n g d e r b u r g e r l i c h - l i t e r a r i s c h e n I n t e l l i g e n z und des S c h r i f t s t e l l e r s i n D e u t s c h l a n d z w i s c h e n 1750 und 1800" (1974). But a l t h o u g h H a f e r k o r n ' s d e t a i l e d s t u d y r a i s e s a number o f c e n t r a l q u e s t i o n s c o n c e r n i n g t h e r o l e o f t h e w r i t e r and t h e emergence o f a German r e a d i n g p u b l i c , h i s M a r x i s t o r i e n t a t i o n and emphasis on i n d i v i d u a l development and " e m a n c i p a t i o n " o b s c u r e some b a s i c 31 issues. Haferkorn d e t a i l s what has long been a c l i c h e of the l a t e r eighteenth-century German l i t e r a r y and p h i l o s o p h i c a l scene: writers and thinkers, i n c r e a s i n g l y detached from the t r a d i t i o n a l corporate order, compensated for the lack of an e f f e c t i v e s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y by turning inward and developing an a p o l i t i c a l , a e s t h e t i c - p h i l o s o p h i c a l sense of "innerness" ( I n n e r l i c h k e i t ) which expressed the longings and ambivalent p o s i t i o n of an emerging educated, upwardly-mobile Biirgertum. The "free writer" and t h i s new Publikum maintained an ambivalent r e l a t i o n s h i p : the new c l a s s of educated burghers produced a new form of writer that expressed the f e e l i n g s of that class, yet these writers were "homeless" i n d i v i d u a l s who were not r e a l l y respected by the Biirgertum, which was b a s i c a l l y animated by a desire for material gain. 1 0 7 The main problem with t h i s kind of a n a l y s i s . i s that the base-superstructure model contributes to a mechanical separation of "society" and " i n t e l l i g e n c e , " the former determining the l a t t e r , which for i t s part i s l e f t to flounder i n an a p o l i t i c a l realm of abstraction where i t never quite a t t a i n s a stable r o l e or i d e n t i t y . While there i s much to be s a i d for seeing l a t e r eighteenth-century l i t e r a r y i n t e l l i g e n c e , p a r t i c u l a r l y , i n t h i s l i g h t , t h i s perspective tends to obscure the r e l a t i o n s h i p between i n t e l l e c t u a l and material culture, leaving l i t t l e room for the power of language and modes of thought--both t r a d i t i o n a l and novel--to address and shape, indeed to constitute, s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l r e a l i t i e s . 1 0 8 One cannot doubt the existence, broadly speaking, of a mutually-related process of s o c i a l and l i t e r a r y development i n eighteenth-century Germany, and that the "enlightenment" of wider sections of the population (primarily the "elevated" Biirgertum) was part and parcel of t h i s process. I t i s t y p i c a l l y seen to have occurred i n phases, corresponding roughly to the f i r s t and second halves of the century, with a middle "Lessing" or "saddle" period occupying the t h i r d quarter. The l a t t e r decades of the century witnessed a phenomenal explosion of epochal l i t e r a r y and p h i l o s o p h i c a l works, and normally receives the most att e n t i o n i n discussions of the German Enlightenment; that has often 32 r e s u l t e d i n a view of the A u f k l a r u n g as being a grand movement of ideas and the imagination, which i t c e r t a i n l y i n part was. But as Enlightenment l i t e r a t u r e i s being i n c r e a s i n g l y i n t e r p r e t e d i n more concrete ways that pay a t t e n t i o n to i t s s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l v a l e n c e s , 1 0 9 e a r l i e r moments i n the process of s o c i o - i n t e l l e c t u a l development take on increased importance, not l e a s t because i n t e l l e c t u a l content had not yet developed to such d i z z y i n g heights of a b s t r a c t i o n or a e s t h e t i c contemplation, heights from which i t can be d i f f i c u l t to assess the contours of the land below. By focusing on roughly the t h i r d quarter of the eighteenth-century, seen by some as "the most important developmental step" i n the n a t i o n a l l i t e r a t u r e of the A u f k l a r u n g , 1 1 0 i t may be p o s s i b l e to gain a c l e a r e r view of some of the fundamental s o c i o -p o l i t i c a l issues i n v o l v e d . Werner Rieck has provided a broad developmental schema of the two e a r l i e r periods of the Aufklarung as a s o c i o - l i t e r a r y phenomenon, exem p l i f y i n g the accepted s t o r y - l i n e of the r i s e of biirgerlich i n t e l l i g e n c e and the "free w r i t e r . " The p e r i o d 1720-1750 i s c h a r a c t e r i z e d as an era of slow c o n s o l i -d a t i o n and s t a b i l i z a t i o n of German l i t e r a t u r e , w i t h J.C. Gottsched appearing as a seminal f i g u r e who helped open a broader n a t i o n a l forum f o r l i t e r a r y d i s c u s s i o n . At t h i s time there was no s o c i a l p o s i t i o n f o r the "free w r i t e r , " or someone who was not attached and hence subservient to a court or some other p o l i t i c a l body. Rieck argues that Gottsched's c l a s s i c i s t l i t e r a r y programme, sometimes denigrated as an obstacle to the r i s e of a t r u l y "German" l i t e r -a ture, was c r u c i a l i n overcoming a c o u r t - o r i e n t e d l i t e r a t u r e and d i r e c t i n g a t t e n t i o n towards the moral and i n t e l l e c t u a l concerns of the Burgertum, and helped to advance an i d e a l of s o c i a b i l i t y that transcended corporate b a r r i e r s . 1 1 1 By the p e r i o d 1750-1770 the process began to quicken, as " f o r the f i r s t time i n modern l i t e r a r y h i s t o r y the s t r i v i n g to employ l i t e r a t u r e i n the s o c i a l - i n t e l l e c t u a l war of l i b e r a t i o n (Befreiungskampf) became v i s i b l e . " The i d e a l of the "free w r i t e r " began to emerge at t h i s time; Lessing, Klopstock, and Wieland were lea d i n g r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of t h i s l i t e r a r y phase, and were 33 united i n a "common s t r i v i n g for the l i t e r a r y mastery/overcoming of r e a l i t y ( l i t e r a r i s c h e n Bewaltigung der W i r k l i c h k e i t ) . " Decisive aesthetic and p h i l o s o p h i c a l - s c i e n t i f i c debates began to be broached within a natio n a l frame, and many of these concerns were dire c t e d to "the c o n s t i t u t i v e forces of the nation, the b i i r g e r l i c h s t r a t a . " L i t e r a t u r e began to take on a s o c i a l l y -r e a l i s t i c , reformist, anti-feudal cast, even i f i t didn't confront absolutism d i r e c t l y . The emerging l i t e r a t u r e of the Sturm und Drang represented a revolutionary example of the turn towards the lower orders and a growing sense of i n d i v i d u a l i t y . Despite a number of q u a l i f i c a t i o n s , the n a r r a t i v e structure of Rieck's work, and others l i k e i t , conveys a progressive development of b i i r g e r l i c h " i n t e l l i g e n c e , " s o c i a l understanding, and so on. 1 1 2 While useful and i n many ways accurate, t h i s approach needs to be balanced by taking greater account of the hesitant, one-^step-forward, two-steps-back nature of eighteenth-century German .society, and the r o l e that obstacles l i k e the "problem of Publikum" played i n enlightened l i t e r a r y discourse. Thus the l i t e r a r y movement ,of. Sturm und Drang, for example, i s not e a s i l y reducible to any sort of progressive developmental model. Scholars have asked, "How revolutionary was the drama of the Sturm und Drang?"113 If i t s connections to the Aufklarung are becoming in c r e a s i n g l y evident, i t nevertheless remained a movement f u l l of contradictions, i n which democratic impulses existed side-by-side with a pronounced sense of distance from the common people and the s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l r e a l i t i e s of everyday German l i f e . 1 1 4 This i s not to say that the s t r i v i n g towards i n d i v i d u a l expression, autonomy, and wholeness was not i n d i c a t i v e of changes under way; a symbolic i n t e r a c t i o n -i s t perspective leads one to expect new forms of i n d i v i d u a l i t y and s e l f -expression to emerge i n tandem with s o c i a l development. Rather, the point i s to be c a r e f u l not to view such forms of behaviour s o l e l y i n terms of i n d i v i d u a l or c o l l e c t i v e "emancipation," be i t l i b e r a l or Marxist. 1 1 5 The inherent d i f f i c u l t y of basing analysis on the model of middle-order emancipation i s nowhere more evident than i n the figure of the "free writer;" for while i t may have been an i d e a l that had resonance then and now, i t i s 34 well known that the r e a l i t y was far removed from the i d e a l . Lessing himself, often seen as symbolizing the new persona, was n'ot able to r e a l i z e an independent l i t e r a r y l i f e ; nearly a l l writers of the Aufklarung depended upon i n s t i t u t i o n a l support or some kind of paid p o s i t i o n to sustain themselves. 1 1 6 Instead of t a l k i n g about the "free" writer and the "emancipation of the burgher-citizen (burgerliche Emanzipation)," i t may be more useful to speak about the hesitant, problematic r i s e of a Publikum and p u b l i c sphere, and the appearance of the "public writer" who was involved i n i t s formation and contestation. The "public" that was addressed was i n c r e a s i n g l y seen to be a German one. German writers began, around 1750, to turn away from a r a t i o n a l i s t , u n i v e r s a l i s t , and (decidedly French) c l a s s i c i s t l i t e r a r y model to one based more upon e l i c i t i n g and answering to "German" character and p e r s o n a l i t y . Under the influence of figures l i k e Du Bos, Blackwell, and Montesquieu, writers l i k e J.E. Schlegel, Herder and Lessing began to reorient l i t e r a t u r e away from courtly, French models and towards types of w r i t i n g that appealed more to the German middle orders and an emerging German Publikum. The Seven-Years War (1756-63) may have been a decisive moment i n which a new sense of nati o n a l culture and i d e n t i t y began to emerge; i t dovetailed with the growing sense that c u l t u r a l forms varied according to a wide range of p a r t i c u l a r circumstances l i k e climate, geography, i n s t i t u t i o n s , mores and customs. 1 1 7 The turn towards Publikum i n the t h i r d quarter of the century was thus informed both by a sense of r i v a l r y with other national t r a d i t i o n s ( p a r t i c u l a r l y the French), and by some of the most innovative terms and ideas emerging from the selfsame European arena, conceived most broadly as the Republic of L e t t e r s . Besides o f f e r i n g a model of enlightened s o c i a b i l i t y that could be t r a n s l a t e d into more mundane contexts, t h i s republic provided a r i c h i n t e l l e c t u a l fund which informed emerging notions of a s p e c i f i c a l l y "German" l i t e r a t u r e and Publikum. 35 A Problematic Publikum The term "Publikum" (spelled with ei t h e r a "c" or a "k") derived from the L a t i n "publicus," and gained currency from i t s French d e r i v a t i o n " l e public" and the English "publick." The term went from having an early-modern connotation of p r i n c e l y authority--the "realm" of the prince, the addressees of e d i c t s — t o a broader usage by the 1760s connoting an audience composed p r i m a r i l y of an emerging educated Biirgertum: an audience of readers, concert-or theatre-goers that served as a judge i n aesthetic and l i t e r a r y matters. At the same time, the term retained an older p o l i t i c a l meaning of "the p u b l i c thing" (res publicae), the body of c i t i z e n s or "Volk, " or the state as an abstract whole. Thus there were a number possible usages of the term, which would have been a v a i l a b l e i n ancient texts of Roman law and oratory, Humanist texts from the Renaissance, and e a r l y modern j u r i s p r u d e n t i a l l i t e r a t u r e , among other sources. 1 1 8 The term only began to gain broad currency i n Germany during the second h a l f of the eighteenth-century; at that time i t began f i n d i n g i t s way i n t o the emerging genre of German d i c t i o n a r i e s that attempted to impose some order on the language, a language which had begun i n the e a r l y part of the century to come into i t s own as an educated form of s o c i a l i n t e r c o u r s e . 1 1 9 The sense of a German "public" thus emerged i n concert with the development of the German language, the r i s e of an educated Biirgertum, and the growth of a nation a l p r i n t culture, as outlined i n the previous sections of t h i s chapter. This simultaneous i n t e l l e c t u a l and s o c i a l development manifested i t s e l f " i n the emergence of a new concept of s o c i a l community, that corresponded to neither the p o l i t i c a l concept of 'state' or 'commonwealth' (Gemeinwesen), nor the t r a d i t i o n a l designations for the multitudes, l i k e 'parish' (Gemeinde) or 'people' {Volk): the concept of 'Publikum.'" Despite being open to a number of po s s i b l e meanings, the new term by and large c a r r i e d with i t , at f i r s t , a sense of l i t e r a r y audience, and l a t e r , by the end of the century, a more o v e r t l y p o l i t i c a l meaning as well. " O f f e n t l i c h k e i t " (openness, p u b l i c i t y ) was 36 a term which emerged more or less i n tandem with "Publikum," appearing by the end of the century as the adjective i n "public opinion" { o f f e n t l i c h e Meinung) , and by the twentieth century coming to displace Publikum i t s e l f as a substantive which could mean "the p u b l i c . " 1 2 0 With t h i s broad outline i n mind, i t i s h e l p f u l to turn to a few contemporary accounts to understand the varied meanings and i n s t a b i l i t y of the term Publikum, a figure which reflected--and worked back upon—an emerging yet mysterious, highly fragmented German pub l i c . I t i s d i f f i c u l t to f i n d much of a d i s c u s s i o n about Publikum before mid-century, but an i n t e r e s t i n g and suggestive usage of the L a t i n "Publico" i n a German text appears at the end of the seventeenth-century, i n a book by the j u r i s t and philosopher C h r i s t i a n Thomasius. In the dedication to h i s 1691 E i n l e i t u n q zur Vernunftlehre. Thomasius states that he f e e l s the Bilrgermeister Stegern i s capable of deciding controversies i n l i g h t of the law of nature and peoples, as well as that of the " J u r i s P u b l i c i " (public law or r i g h t , p r i n t e d i n Roman characters). Otherwise there i s no mention i n the text of Publikum as a s p e c i f i c German enti t y , Thomasius employing terms l i k e "jedermann" (everyone), "jeder Menschen," (every human being), and "gemein" (common) to r e f e r to any sort of s o c i a l c o l l e c t i v e . Thomasius's use of "Publico" stems quite c l e a r l y from j u r i s p r u d e n t i a l writings, and i s employed only i n a broad, a b s t r a c t - l e g a l sense. 1 2 1 But the notion of the public as being a judge, a bearer of law or r i g h t , or a court of appeal, was to appear often i n l a t e r German references, and indicates the deep j u r i d i c a l roots of the term. The e a r l i e s t extended r e f l e c t i o n on the notion of Publikum which I have come across i s an essay e n t i t l e d "Das Publicum" by F r i e d r i c h C a r l von Moser, written i n 1755; the essay quite probably appeared i n a small journal that Moser was e d i t i n g at the time i n Frankfurt am Main. Moser, l i k e Thomasius, was a j u r i s t and hence conversant with a wide range of l e g a l writings; he worked as a h i g h - l e v e l bureaucrat and p r i n c e l y advisor, and he i s known as a man of l e t t e r s and a proponent of a conception of a renewed Empire. 1 2 2 Moser was also a staunch P i e t i s t , and his t r e a t i s e indicates t h i s i n i t s mistrust of 37 t h e Publicum as any f i n a l s o r t o f judge f o r human a c t i o n s . M o s e r ' s e s s a y i s i m p o r t a n t as an e a r l y a t t e m p t t o come t o g r i p s w i t h a t e r m w h i c h was o n l y t h e n e m e r g i n g ; t h e e s s a y c a n be s een as a b r i d g e between usage o f " p u b l i c " as a t erm o f j u r i s p r u d e n c e , and as c o n n o t i n g an e v o l v i n g s o c i o l o g i c a l e n t i t y . He s t a r t s the e s s a y g r a n d l y : The most i m p o r t a n t p e r s o n i n the w o r l d , and a t t h e same t i m e t h e g r e a t e s t m a r t y r o f a l l t i m e , i s the P u b l i c u m . The monarch a p p e a l s t o i t s t r i b u n a l , t h e academic seeks i t s p r o t e c t i o n , t h e m e r c h a n t i s i t s m e n t o r , t h e r i g h t e o u s one r e l i e s on i t s i n s i g h t , and t h e h y p o c r i t e h i d e s b e h i n d i t s w e a k n e s s . . . The t y r a n t c o m f o r t s h i s pangs o f c o n s c i e n c e w i t h t h e a p p l a u s e o f t h e p u b l i c , the o p p r e s s e d s i g h f o r i t s sympathy, and the C h r i s t i a n a l o n e i s i n t h e p o s i t i o n t o s t e p b e f o r e i t w i t h a t r u e and u n f e i g n e d , b u t n o b l y i n d i f f e r e n t r e s p e c t f u l n e s s . 1 2 3 He goes on t o d e f i n e Publicum as "the whole o f humankind t o g e t h e r , , o r , i f one wants t o d e f i n e i t more n a r r o w l y , t h e i n h a b i t a n t s o f e v e r y . s t a t e t o g e t h e r compose a general p u b l i c . " T h i s i s r e l a t e d t o terms l i k e " p o l i t y " o r "commonwealth" (gemeine Wesen), and "common good" (gemeine Beste, gemeine Wohlfahrt). He narrows the t erm f u r t h e r t o mean a l l t h o s e p e o p l e who a r e e s p e c i a l l y i n t e r e s t e d i n e v e n t s o f g e n e r a l s i g n i f i c a n c e , o r who have e i t h e r t h e e d u c a t i o n o r t h e p o s i t i o n t o judge o f t h e r e a s o n s b e h i n d s u c h m a t t e r s . Thus i t f o l l o w s t h a t "every l e a d i n g c l a s s and t y p e o f human b e i n g s {Haupt-Classe und Gattung der Menschen) compose t h e i r own p u b l i c . " 1 2 4 Moser d e p a r t s f u r t h e r f rom a s p e c i f i c s o c i o l o g i c a l c o n c e p t i o n o f t h e " p u b l i c " b y t a l k i n g about t h e Publicum o f the s o v e r e i g n , w h i c h i s m a i n l y h i s p o s t e r i t y , b u t i n t i m e s o f war c a n i n c l u d e e v e r y o n e down t o t h e "common man," who must be c o n s u l t e d i n s u c h m a t t e r s . The German " R e i c h s - P u b l i c u m " i s composed, i n s u c h e v e n t u a l i t i e s p a r t i c u l a r l y , o f t h e whole r a n g e o f s u b j e c t s , r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e i r s o c i a l p o s i t i o n . Here Moser i s c l e a r l y t r y i n g t o a d v a n c e a h o l i s t i c , p a t r i o t i c , and i n c l u s i v e n o t i o n o f t h e E m p i r e . 1 2 5 The e s s a y t h e n moves i n t o a c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f L a t i n l e g a l t erms l i k e Salus publica, Bonum publicum, and Securitas publica, terms w h i c h a r e c l e a r l y t i e d i n t o h i s n o t i o n o f t h e E m p i r e and h i s r e s e a r c h i n t o the "German C o n s t i t u t i o n . " He q u o t e s Hugo G r o t i u s i n L a t i n on Publicum, and n o t e s t h a t a l l o f t h e above terms c a n r e c e i v e a number o f d e f i n i t i o n s . 1 2 6 The e s s a y 38 lapses at many points into vagueness, the only c e r t a i n t y being that the term Publicum c a r r i e s with i t a c e r t a i n v a r i a b i l i t y i n meaning, depending upon whom one i s t a l k i n g about. The essay climaxes with a point that Moser does make c l e a r l y : the search for public esteem i s a "sickness," the t r u l y wise man f u l f i l l i n g h i s duties out of a virtuous and loving heart, without hunger for praise and fame. Ch r i s t i a n s have higher c a l l i n g than to l i v e for worldly applause. 1 2 7 The essay points i n a number of d i r e c t i o n s , and indicates the openness of "Publicum" to a wide v a r i e t y of d e f i n i t i o n s . Moser draws upon j u r i s -p rudential usages of the term, and his main points seem to contradict each other: he wants to give a p a r t i c u l a r purchase to Publicum as r e l a t i n g to the Empire as a whole, yet i t can also mean any number of smaller p o l i t i e s , and i n the f i n a l a n alysis i s an e n t i t y whose esteem the true C h r i s t i a n avoids. This l a s t point i s c r u c i a l , because.it points to the fact that the emerging fig u r e of the p u b l i c represented a new, secular point of reference for behaviour, one which threatened t r a d i t i o n a l i d e o l o g i c a l bases of conduct. And Moser points to an emerging sense of the public as being composed of the educated s t r a t a of society, those people able to decide for themselves what i s a c t u a l l y going on. But i n the end the term i s l e f t open to a number of p o s s i b l e meanings, and can be used i n reference to the whole spectrum of humanity. Like Lessing, Abbt, and Herder, Moser's conception of Publikum i s not n e c e s s a r i l y t i e d only to the emerging educated Biirgertum, a fact which points to the need to conceptualize the emergence of the German public sphere i n terms broader than that of the emancipation of the burgher-citizen (bilrgerliche Emanzipation) . Another e a r l y r e f l e c t i o n on Publikum was written by the poet F.G. Klopstock, a figure who i s t y p i c a l l y seen as one of the e a r l y pioneers of an indigenous German l i t e r a t u r e . Klopstock, w r i t i n g i n 1758, argued that i t i s necessary to d i s t i n g u i s h the "Publico" from the "multitudes" (gro&e Haufen), e s p e c i a l l y when the l a t t e r wants to assume that i t i s part of the Publico. Writing p r i m a r i l y of a l i t e r a r y public, Klopstock maintained that "The actual Publicum consists o v e r a l l of fewer members than' many think, who would g l a d l y 39 count themselves part of i t . " Klopstock divides the "true" Publicum into two categories--judges (Richter) and connoisseurs (Kenner), who together a r b i t r a t e i n matters of aesthetic taste. Klopstock narrows the f i e l d further by r e f e r r i n g to m u l i t i p l e " P u b l i c i , " according to the p a r t i c u l a r sort of c u l t u r a l a c t i v i t y . 1 2 8 Klopstock's short essay shows that the term was unstable, and was being applied to a growing sector of the reading public; for him, the primary frame of reference was l i t e r a r y . He seems i r r i t a t e d by the p o s s i b i l i t y that the term could be used to r e f e r to the t o t a l i t y of a growing readership, and the essay seems aimed at contesting t h i s p o s s i b i l i t y , with a view towards g i v i n g the term a rather exclusive sense--otherwise true "taste" i s going to be impaired. When not the d i r e c t object of r e f l e c t i o n , "Publikum" was used t y p i c a l l y i n reference to a reading audience, for example i n the preface to C F . G e l l e r t ' s Moral Lectures (1770): "We hereby d e l i v e r to the pub l i c a work of the blessed G e l l e r t . " 1 2 9 G e l l e r t ' s "public" was wider than most, however, inclu d i n g lower-middle burghers and women, and had a r e l i g i o u s and moral cast to i t . Three years a f t e r h i s death i n 1769, he was honoured for not being a wri t e r for academics, rather as "a writer for the Publikum, teacher of pure v i r t u e and innocent, simple taste to his nation." 1 3 0 Here common s o c i a l and moral concerns, instead of educated, aesthetic ones, provide the frame of reference for Publikum, one quite at odds with Klopstock's. In a work published ten years a f t e r Klopstock's essay, the s a t i r i s t and c r i t i c F.J. Riedel developed further the notion of a l i t e r a r y p u b l i c that served as f i n a l a r b i t e r i n aesthetic matters, arguing that "Out of the harmonising voices of t a s t e f u l readers the voice of the Publicum rings i n unison." 1 3 1 But Riedel's c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of the current status of Publicum i n German l i t e r a r y c i r c l e s points to the multi-valency of the term and the lack of an e a s i l y i d e n t i f i a b l e e n t i t y which corresponded to i t : From a l l sides the word "Publicum" sounds i n my ears, and I hear so many p e c u l i a r things said about our dear German Publicum that I have almost begun to have strange thoughts about i t myself. One person praises i t , because he believes i t has praised him; another 40 rebukes i t because i t d i d not choose to honour him; a t h i r d doesn't know where i t i s , and a fourth begins to doubt i f i t e x i s t s at a l l . 1 3 2 R i e d e l 1 s confusion i s understandable. During the second h a l f of the century, educated t r e a t i s e s i n c r e a s i n g l y appealed to a strengthened Publikum "whose i n t e r e s t was presupposed and sought, and whose taste and c r i t i c a l judgement was assumed," thus becoming an almost mythical "golden c a l f " of the Aufklarung.133 I t was just such a q u a s i - f i c t i v e e n t i t y that CM. Wieland addressed i n 1773, i n the foreword to the f i r s t volume of h i s i n f l u e n t i a l journal Der Teutsche Merkur. Wieland there seems intent on c r a f t i n g a notion of a Publikum that i s high-minded and c r i t i c a l yet f a i r , a t r i b u n a l :of enlightened readers which, although often misled i n the short term, eventually makes the r i g h t judgement on l i t e r a r y matters. Wieland r e f e r s to the p u b l i c both as a worthy audience for good journalism, and as a non-partisan court of appeal, of which the Merkur i s only the organ--"the Publicum alone i s the judge." In short, we wish to acquire for the Teutsche Merkur the regard accorded to the Athenian Areopagus, which was not based on compulsion but rather on the glory of wisdom and i n t e g r i t y , and was hence so f i r m l y grounded that the Gods themselves would not he s i t a t e to l e t t h e i r disputes be decided i n front of t h i s honorable senate. Wieland's appeal i s c l e a r l y responding to the fact that, i n h i s view, The learned republic i n Germany has for some time now taken on the shape of a tumultuous democracy, i n which anyone who has something i n h i s craw, or doesn't have anything better to do, thrusts himself forward as a speaker, speaks good or i l l about matters of state, and, when i t can't happen because of merit, he makes him-s e l f important through intrigues, cabals, and rakish schemes. 1 3 4 The foreword thus has two sides; on the one hand Wieland c r i t i c i z e s what he sees to be a growing f i e l d of chaotic, p a r t i s a n speakers, and a Publicum that often rewards mediocre works and ignores what i s t r u l y good, while on the other hand he puts forward his own, high-minded notion of Publicum, which hi s journal i s going to seek to foster. I t i s worth noting that he points to the English as being further along than the Germans i n coming to a unitary, non-p a r t i s a n viewpoint on l i t e r a r y matters, and he c i t e s Pope's "Essay on C r i t i c i s m " as a programmatic statement of the Merkur's e d i t o r i a l p o l i c y . 1 3 5 41 Wieland's foreword i l l u s t r a t e s many of the ambivalent features of Publikum, as both a concept and a growing s o c i o l o g i c a l e n t i t y , i n t h i r d q uarter-century Germany. He acknowledges that the reading p u b l i c i s becoming " d a i l y more numerous," yet he laments, as d i d many others at the time, the fragmented nature of the Germanies and the l a c k of a common German "centre:" We have no c a p i t a l , which could serve as a general academy of the nation's v i r t u o u s i and the lawgiver of t a s t e . We have no ^permanent n a t i o n a l theater; our best a c t o r s , w r i t e r s , poets and a r t i s t s are strewn throughout a l l the regions of the German Empire, and are i n l a r g e p a r t robbed of the advantages of c l o s e r contact and the sharing of i n s i g h t s , judgments, proposals, e t c . , which would c o n t r i b u t e much to the p e r f e c t i o n of t h e i r work. 1 3 6 He goes on to s t a t e that the Merkur w i l l attempt to present a t r u l y " n a t i o n a l " p e r s p e c t i v e , one which w i l l help to e n r i c h the a r t i s t i c fund of the "nation." The "nation" i s i n a d v e r t e n t l y i d e n t i f i e d w i t h the "Publico," as that body capable of judging works as to t h e i r (national) v a l u e . 1 3 7 Thus although Wieland's musings are framed p r i m a r i l y i n terms of l i t e r a r y - a e s t h e t i c matters, they take on a c e r t a i n p r o t o - p o l i t i c a l q u a l i t y , a sense that German-speakers need to be brought together i n t o a common forum of d i s c u s s i o n ; a forum which would, over time, take on a more o v e r t l y p o l i t i c a l s e l f - u n d e r s t a n d i n g . Wieland's acknowledgement of a s p l i n t e r e d , p r o b l e m a t i c a l Publikum--an e n t i t y that was not only d i s u n i t e d , but open to being manipulated by rakes and m i s l e d by a range of p a r t i s a n concerns--and h i s attempt to shape the term according to r a t i o n a l precepts and j u d i c i a l models, i l l u s t r a t e s both the nature of what I am c a l l i n g the "problem of Publikum," and the way i n which that p r o b l e m a t i c a l status l e d to attempts r h e t o r i c a l l y to c o n s t i t u t e and contest Publikum. Riedel's essay d i s p l a y e d much the same character, as he too acknowledged the b a s i c "problem:" Where i s that Publicum whose utterance counts, and serves to determine the value and ranking of a w r i t e r ? Is i t i n a c i t y or province? i n B e r l i n , i n L e i p z i g , i n Cophenhagen, or i n Zurich? Hardly! We have no common c a p i t a l c i t y ; no middle-point, i n which the core of our best heads are gathered, on whose f i n a l judgement the periphery w a i t s ; Germany i s a realm d i v i d e d i n t o m u l t i p l e provinces, which e x i s t f o r themselves and have t h e i r own i n t e r e s t s , which o f t e n go against that of the whole... 1 3 8 Hence the b a s i c problem: the p u b l i c was emerging as a f i g u r e of some i n t e r e s t , but where was i t to be found? I t appeared to be more of a r h e t o r i c a l f i g u r e 42 than anything. One doesn't have to look hard f o r evidence that t h i s problem was w i d e l y recognized; Hamann, Abbt, Herder, and even Justus Moser made s i m i l a r utterances about i t around t h i s time. 1 3 9 Most contemporary s c h o l a r s p o i n t out the bas i c problems of a la c k of a s o c i o - c u l t u r a l centre of German l i f e , and i t s fragmented and div e r s e character, but the "problem of Publikum," as I am c a l l i n g i t , has not been explored deeply as a key f a c t o r i n enlightened i n t e l l e c t u a l p r o d u c t i o n . 1 4 0 By the end of the century, when the number of w r i t e r s and p u b l i c i s t s had doubled from mid-century to around 7000, Georg F o r s t e r could s t i l l complain; Sure we have'7000 w r i t e r s , but that aside, j u s t as we have no common German s p i r i t , so there i s no German p u b l i c o p i n i o n . Indeed these words are so new, so strange, that everyone pushes forward t h e i r own d e f i n i t i o n s and explanations; while no Englishman misunderstands another who speaks of " p u b l i c s p i r i t , " no Frenchman misunderstands another when the t a l k i s of "opinion publique. "141 In 1785 Johann Wilhelm von Archenholtz had made a s i m i l a r comparison between Germany and England; 1 4 2 and a quarter-century l a t e r Madame de S t a e l famously i n s i s t e d on the backward character of German p u b l i c l i f e , and i t s e f f e c t on works of the imagination: Only a few b a s i c c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s are h e l d i n common by the e n t i r e German na t i o n , f o r the d i v e r s i t i e s of t h i s country are such that one i s at a l o s s to combine from one viewpoint r e l i g i o n s , governments, c l i m a t e s , and even peoples so d i f f e r e n t . . . T h i s domain had no common centre of enlightenment and p u b l i c s p i r i t ; i t was not a s o l i d n a t i o n , f o r the separate elements were not t i e d together. This d i v i s i o n of Germany, f a t a l to her p o l i t i c a l i n f l u e n c e , was nevertheless very favorable to a l l e f f o r t s of t a l e n t and ima g i n a t i o n . 1 4 3 While de S t a e l was r i g h t about the bas i c "problem of Publikum," her i n s i g h t helped to d i r e c t a t t e n t i o n away from the s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l valences of works w r i t t e n by enlightened i n d i v i d u a l s who were confronted w i t h t h i s problem. "Enlightenment," i n t h i s context, a c t u a l l y takes on a very p r a c t i c a l dimension: the shaping of a p u b l i c and p u b l i c sphere of discourse i n which i t was p o s s i b l e to c a r r y on d i s c e r n i n g d i s c u s s i o n about matters of common i n t e r e s t . Some scholars of the Aufklarung are beginning to explore i t s s o c i o -p o l i t i c a l dimensions i n greater d e t a i l , and to draw important connections 43 between Enlightenment, the growth i n p r i n t culture, the r i s e of a p u b l i c sphere, and processes of p o l i t i c i z a t i o n , among other things. U l r i c h Herrmann and Hans E r i c h Bodeker, p a r t i c u l a r l y , have urged a reappraisal of the Aufklarung from t h i s perspective, as a highly complex movement of socio-p o l i t i c a l consciousness-formation that was t i e d very c l o s e l y to material r e a l i t i e s and events; a comprehensive reform movement which encompassed a l l aspects of l i f e . The printed word i s seen as having been the most important medium of t h i s process, a process of s o c i a l formation that involved the emergence of an enlightened p u b l i c . 1 4 4 Frederick Beiser has argued s i m i l a r l y that "far from being impractical and a p o l i t i c a l , " the Aufklarung was an e s s e n t i a l l y p r a c t i c a l and, broadly speaking, " p o l i t i c a l " movement. "The fundamental aim of the Aufklarung was to enlighten or educate the p u b l i c . . . i t s objective-.was-the emancipation of the pub l i c , i t s l i b e r a t i o n from the shackles of t r a d i t i o n , s u p e r s t i t i o n , and despotism. " 1 4 5 In working t h i s perspective through h i s analysis of some of the major figures of the high German Enlightenment, Beiser, l i k e most scholars, concentrates on the l a s t decades of the eighteenth-century and employs a n a r r a t i v e of emancipation. By focusing less on the emancipation of the pub l i c , and more on i t s c o n s t i t u t i o n and contestation, I hope to provide a more nuanced account of what was at work i n a process that blended reform with t r a d i t i o n , emancipation with co r p o r a t i s t understandings of society. In the following chapters I explore t h i s topic i n r e l a t i o n to three figures who had much i n common, yet were engaged i n d i f f e r i n g projects, g i v i n g the account a focused yet wide-ranging character. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Abbt, and Johann G o t t f r i e d Herder were i n d i v i d u a l s who shared a common north-central German geography and i n t e l l e c t u a l landscape; and except for the fac t that Abbt died too e a r l y to learn much i f anything about the work of Herder, each knew of and appreciated the other, and moved i n o r b i t s with B e r l i n and the Briefe, die neueste L i t t e r a t u r e betreffend roughly at t h e i r centre. Lessing, who dominated the German i n t e l l e c t u a l scene during the third-quarter century, was an important touchstone for both Abbt and Herder. 44 And t h e work o f A b b t , as I w i l l show, had an e n o r m o u s - - a n d i n d e e d u n d e r -a p p r e c i a t e d — i m p a c t on H e r d e r ' s p e r s p e c t i v e on the r e l a t e d themes o f "Language , L i t e r a t u r e , and Publikum." B u t a l t h o u g h t h e s e t h r e e i n d i v i d u a l s had much i n common, e a c h was r e l a t i v e l y m o b i l e , r e a d w i d e l y , and p u r s u e d v a r i e d c o n c e r n s and i n t e r e s t s . Thus a common t h e m a t i c w i l l be a n a l y z e d i n d i f f e r i n g y e t o v e r l a p p i n g s o c i o -i n t e l l e c t u a l c o n t e x t s . E a c h c h a p t e r i s a s e p a r a t e e s s a y on my c h o s e n f i g u r e s and t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e domains , y e t e x p l o r e s l i n k s w i t h t h e o t h e r s i n a t h e m a t i c and r o u g h l y l o g i c a l s e q u e n c e . C h a p t e r Two ( L e s s i n g ) b e g i n s a t m i d - c e n t u r y and c o n c e n t r a t e s on drama and a e s t h e t i c - l i t e r a r y m a t t e r s ; C h a p t e r T h r e e (Abbt) d e a l s w i t h more o v e r t l y s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l themes, and C h a p t e r F o u r (Herder) b r i n g s t o g e t h e r t h e a e s t h e t i c - l i t e r a r y w i t h the s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l themes o f t h e p r e v i o u s two c h a p t e r s . O t h e r s c e r t a i n l y c o u l d have been c h o s e n as s u b j e c t s f o r t h i s s t u d y ; b u t t a k e n t o g e t h e r , the oeuvres o f t h e s e t h r e e p r o m i n e n t w r i t e r s p r o v i d e a h e l p f u l window o n t o f o r m a t i v e s t a g e s o f the Aufklarung and the emergence a n d f i g u r -a t i o n o f an e n l i g h t e n e d German p u b l i c . I n the c o n c l u d i n g c h a p t e r I r e l a t e t h e themes and f i g u r e s e x p l o r e d t o some o f t h e l a t e r and more w e l l - k n o w n mus ings on t h e p u b l i c s p h e r e , i n c l u d i n g t h o s e o f Immanuel K a n t . By d o i n g t h i s I hope t o show t h a t s u c h r e f l e c t i o n on the " p u b l i c " and p u b l i c s p h e r e was b u i l t upon a d i s c o u r s e w h i c h h a d r o o t s i n t h e t h i r d - q u a r t e r c e n t u r y and t h e work o f s e m i n a l f i g u r e s l i k e L e s s i n g , A b b t and H e r d e r . I t m i g h t be o b j e c t e d t h a t g i v e n t h e f r a c t u r e d and h i g h l y d i v e r s e n a t u r e o f German l i f e , i t i s p r o b l e m a t i c to t a l k about a German "prob lem o f P u b l i k u m " o r t o see L e s s i n g , A b b t , and H e r d e r as i n any way r e p r e s e n t a t i v e o f a w i d e r t h e m a t i c . T h e r e a r e s e v e r a l ways t o answer t h i s o b j e c t i o n . One i s t o p o i n t o u t , as I h a v e , t h a t t h e s e f i g u r e s had a b r o a d i n t e l l e c t u a l p e r s p e c t i v e and were h i g h l y m o b i l e . A n o t h e r i s t o i n d i c a t e t h a t "the p r o b l e m o f Publikum" was one o f t h e few t h i n g s t h a t t h e s e s o r t s o f f i g u r e s h a d i n common. I t seems c o g e n t t o a r g u e , as Mack W a l k e r has done i n t h e c a s e o f German "hometowns," t h a t t h e d i s p e r s e d n a t u r e o f German l i f e a l l o w s one to g e n e r a l i z e f rom t h a t 45 f a c t : i f nothing else, everyone shared a common experience of d i s u n i t y and fragmentation. 1 4 6 Furthermore, by devoting i n d i v i d u a l chapters to each person, p a r t i c u l a r circumstances and i n d i v i d u a l concerns are given t h e i r due, and can be measured i n r e l a t i o n to the larger theme. And f i n a l l y , given the broad trend, documented above, towards a more coherent German public sphere, i t seems v a l i d to accept the p o s s i b i l i t y that i n d i v i d u a l s i n the period under study were i n fact groping towards a new forum and a wider v i s i o n of German society, and that t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s can be conceptualized as such. In the chapters which follow I demonstrate the ways i n which Lessing, Abbt and Herder indeed embodied the new figure of the enlightened "public writer." 46 NOTES 1. For ease of expression I w i l l at times speak of "Germany," even though i t was not a u n i t e d p o l i t i c a l e n t i t y at t h i s time. The area r e f e r r e d to more or l e s s conforms to the present-day German n a t i o n , although c e n t r a l and northern Germany w i l l be the primary l o c i f o r a n a l y s i s . 2. Ferdinand Tonnies, K r i t i k der o f f e n t l i c h e n Meinunq ( B e r l i n , 1922) . 3. F r i e d r i c h Lenz, Werden und Wesen der o f f e n t l i c h e n Meinunq: E i n B e i t r a q zur p o l i t i s c h e n S o z i o l o q i e (Miinchen & Darmstadt, 1956 & 1981) . 4. Wilhelm Bauer, Die o f f e n t l i c h e Meinunq i n der Weltaeschichte (Wildpark-Potsdam, 1930), esp. p. 211ff. 5. I b i d . , p. 232. The extent of t h i s oversight i s p l a i n l y evident i n F r e d e r i c k Hertz's The Development of the German P u b l i c Mind (1962). Although Hertz makes an otherwise laudable attempt to go beyond the h i s t o r y of high p o l i t i c s , he never analyzes c r i t i c a l l y h i s c e n t r a l subject or i t s genesis, t a k i n g the p u b l i c f o r granted as a s t a t i c , t r a n s - h i s t o r i c a l e n t i t y . See F r e d e r i c k Hertz, The Development of the German P u b l i c Mind: A S o c i a l H i s t o r y of German P o l i t i c a l Sentiments, A s p i r a t i o n s and Ideas (London, 1962). 6. Reinhart K o s e l l e c k , C r i t i q u e and C r i s i s : Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern So c i e t y (1959; E n g l i s h t r a n s . , Cambridge, Mass, 1988), p. 62ff, pp. 113-15. 7. For a c r i t i c a l d i s c u s s i o n of the work of Kose l l e c k , Habermas and others on the r i s e of a European p u b l i c sphere see Anthony La Vopa, "Conceiving a P u b l i c : Ideas and S o c i e t y i n Eighteenth-Century Europe," The J o u r n a l of Modern H i s t o r y 64 (March 1992):79-116. 8. Jurgen Habermas, The S t r u c t u r a l Transformation of the P u b l i c Sphere: An I n q u i r y Into a Category of Bourgeois S o c i e t y (1962; E n g l i s h t r a n s . , Cambridge, Mass, 1989), p. 27. 9. I b i d . , pp. 30-31; 25, 38; 16, 50-51. 10. I b i d . , p. 25, 57ff, 69ff, 102ff. 11. See La Vopa, "Conceiving a P u b l i c , " p. 102ff. 12. See, f o r example, the c o l l e c t i o n of essays i n C r a i g Calhoun, ed., Habermas and the P u b l i c Sphere (Cambridge, Mass. & London, 1992). See a l s o La Vopa, "Conceiving a P u b l i c . " For a recent work that traces the Habermasian theme i n e a r l y America see Michael Warner, The L e t t e r s of the Republic: P u b l i c a t i o n and the P u b l i c Sphere i n Eighteenth-Century America (Cambridge, Mass, 1990) . 13. Dena Goodman, "P u b l i c Sphere and P r i v a t e L i f e : Toward a Synthesis of Current H i s t o r i o g r a p h i c a l Approaches to the Old Regime," H i s t o r y and Theory 31 (1992):14. 14. George Herbert Mead, Mind, S e l f , and Society: From the Standpoint of a S o c i a l B e h a v i o r i s t (Chicago, 1934, 1962), p. 135. 15. I b i d . , p. 144. 47 16. Ibid., pp. 160-61. 17. Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. D.D. Raphael & A.L. Macfie, eds. (Indianapolis, 1982), p. 110. 18. The relevance of Mead's s o c i a l psychology to the present study w i l l be discussed further i n the f i n a l chapter. My aim i n invoking a symbolic i n t e r a c t i o n i s t model i s to provide a broad conceptual framework for understanding developments during the period under study, rather than to be reductive. Movements l i k e pietism and sentimentalism c l e a r l y played a part i n the growth i n s u b j e c t i v i t y and the "inner l i f e , " as d i d the spread of r a t i o n a l i s t and "enlightened" modes of thinking. But there i s no reason why these well-understood trends can not be integrated into the model I am proposing. 19. See for example E.J. Hundert, The Enlightenment's Fable: Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of Society (Cambridge, 1994); I. Hont & M. I g n a t i e f f , eds., Wealth and Vir t u e : The Shaping of P o l i t i c a l Economy i n the S c o t t i s h Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1983); Lawrence E. Klein,'>Shaftesburv and the c ulture of pol i t e n e s s : Moral discourse and c u l t u r a l p o l i t i c s i n e a r l y eighteenth-century England (Cambridge, 1994); Istvari .Hont, "The Language of S o c i a b i l i t y and Commerce: Samuel Pufendorf and t h e - t h e o r e t i c a l foundations of the 'Four-Stages Theory,'" i n Anthony Pagden, .ed., The Languages of P o l i t i c a l Theory i n Early-Modern Europe (Cambridge, '1987), pp. 253-76. 20. For a perceptive analysis and q u a l i f i c a t i o n of the Brunner thes i s , and a l i s t of Brunner's works, see E r i c h Angermann, "Das Auseinandertreten von 'Staat 1 und 'Gesellschaft' im Denken des 18. Jahrhunderts," i n Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde, ed., Staat und Gesellschaft (Darmstadt, 1976), pp. 109-130. 21. Hundert, The Enlightenment's Fable. 22. Margaret Jacob, The Newtonians and the English Revolution, 1689-1720 (The Harvester Press, 1976); L i v i n g the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and P o l i t i c s i n Eighteenth-Century Europe (Oxford, 1991) . Quote from Margaret Jacob, "The Enlightenment Redefined: The Formation of Modern C i v i l Society," S o c i a l Research 58 (Summer 1991):485. 23. See Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the air-pump: Hobbes. Bovle. and the Experimental L i f e (Princeton, 1985); Jacob, "The Enlightenment Redefined." For a wide-ranging b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l discussion of freemasonry and the bourgeois public sphere see La Vopa, "Conceiving a Public." For a discussion of the new science i n s o c i a l , i n s t i t u t i o n a l context that sheds l i g h t on i t as a "movement," see Joseph Ben-David, The S c i e n t i s t ' s Role i n Society (Prentice H a l l , 1971) . For an engaging analysis of these themes v i s - a - v i s the French s c i e n t i f i c academies see Keith Baker, Condorcet: From Natural Philosophy to S o c i a l Mathematics (Chicago, 1975) . See also Baker's Inventing the French Revolution: Essays on French P o l i t i c a l Culture i n the Eighteenth-Century (Cambridge, 1990), chapter 7, "Science and p o l i t i c s at the end of the Old Regime." 24. Ernst Cassirer, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (1932; Boston, 1951) . 25. E l i z a b e t h L. Eisenstein, The P r i n t i n g Press as an Agent of Change Vol. 1 Communications and c u l t u r a l transformations i n earlv-modern Europe (Cambridge, 1974), p. 132. 26. La Vopa, "Conceiving a Public," p. 109; Eisenstein, The P r i n t i n g Press. p. 132. 48 27. Eisenstein, The P r i n t i n g Press, pp. 137-38. 28. Eisenstein, The Pr i n t i n g Press, p. 139, 146-49. For a discus s i o n of the book trade as the locus for r a d i c a l ideas see Margaret Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists. Freemasons and Republicans (London, 1981), chapter 5. 29. Dena Goodman, The Republic of Letters: A C u l t u r a l History of the French Enlightenment (Ithaca & London, 1994), p. 91. 30. E l i z a b e t h L. Eisenstein, "On Revolution and the Printed Word," i n Roy Porter and Mikulas Teich, eds., Revolution i n History (Cambridge, 1986), p. 197. 31. Lucian Holscher, " O f f e n t l i c h k e i t , " i n Otto Brunner, Werner Conze, Reinhart Kosselleck, eds., Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe Band 4 (Stuttgart, 1972), p. 432. 32. Pierre Bayle, Dictionnaire h i s t o r i o u e et c r i t i q u e .(1697-1702); E l i z a b e t h Labrousse, Bayle (Oxford, 1983); Walter Rex,- Essays on Pierre Bavle and Religious Controversy (The Hague, 1965). 33. Bruce Robbins, "Introduction" to a sp e c i a l issue of S o c i a l Text on the Public Sphere, no. 25/26 (1990):3. 34. Keith Michael Baker, "Defining a Public Sphere i n Eighteenth-Century France: Va r i a t i o n s on a theme by Habermas," i n Craig Calhoun, ed., Habermas and the Public Sphere, p. 189; Geoff Eley, "Nations, Publics, and P o l i t i c a l Cultures: Placing Habermas i n the Nineteenth Century," Ibid., p. 306; Joan Landes, Women and the Public Sphere i n the Age of the French Revolution (Ithaca & London, 1988); Nancy Fraser, "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the C r i t i q u e of A c t u a l l y E x i s t i n g Democracy," S o c i a l Text 25/26 (1990):56-80. 35. Karl Mannheim, "Die Bedeutung der Konkurrenz im Gebiete des Geistigen," Verhandlungen des sechsten Deutschen Soziologentaqes (Tubingen, 1929), p. 45. 36. A highly i n f l u e n t i a l but excessively abstract c r i t i q u e of Enlightenment r a t i o n a l i t y i s Max Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno, D i a l e c t i c of Enlightenment (Frankfurt, 1969). A r t i c l e s which explore the l i m i t s of Enlightenment "tolerance" include Reinhart Kosselleck, "Aufklarung und die Grenzen i h r e r Toleranz," i n Trutz Rendtorff, ed., Glaube und Tolerance: Das theologische Erbe der Aufklarung (Gutersloh, 1982); A l o i s Wierlacher, "Toleranzforschung: Zur Forschungsplanung i n t e r k u l t u r e l l e r Germanistik. E i n Pladoyer," i n Bernd Thum & Gonthier-Louis Fink, eds., Praxis i n t e r k u l t u r e l l e r Germanistik: Forschung-Bildung-Politik (Miinchen, 1993). A recent popular work that deals with some of the main c r i t i q u e s of Enlightenment universalism i s Charles Taylor, M u l t i c u l t u r a l i s m and 'The P o l i t i c s of Recognition' (Princeton, 1992) . 37. Robbins, "Introduction," p. 4. 38. Landes, Women and the Public Sphere, p. 7. See Carole Pateman's summary of feminist views on the p u b l i c / p r i v a t e divide, "Feminist C r i t i q u e s of the Public/Private Dichotomy," i n Carole Pateman, The Disorder of Women: Democracy, Feminism and P o l i t i c a l Theory (Stanford, 1989), pp. 118-32; S i l v i a Bovenschen, Die imaginierte Weiblichkeit: Exemolarische Untersuchungen zu kult u r g e s c h i c h t l i c h e n und l i t e r a r i s c h e n Presentationsformen des Weiblichen (Frankfurt am Main, 1979); Greg Laugero, " P u b l i c i t y , Gender, and Genre: A 49 Review Essay," Eighteenth-Century Studies 28, 4 (1995) :432; Eley, "Nations, Publics, and P o l i t i c a l Cultures," p. 309ff. 39. See Nancy Fraser's much reprinted essay, c i t e d above, which draws hea v i l y upon Landes and Eley: "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the C r i t i q u e of A c t u a l l y E x i s t i n g Democracy." 40. Baker, "Defining the Public Sphere i n Eighteenth-Century France," p. 207. See also Goodman, "Public Sphere and Private L i f e , " p. 14ff. 41. Carolyn Steedman, "'Public' and 'Private' i n Women's Lives," Journal of H i s t o r i c a l Sociology 3 (Sept. 1990) :295. 42. Lawrence E. Klein, "Gender and the Public/Private D i s t i n c t i o n i n the Eighteenth-Century: Some Questions About Evidence and An a l y t i c Procedure," Eighteenth-Centurv Studies 29.1 (1995):100. 43. Kathryn Shevelow, quoted i n Laugero, " P u b l i c i t y , Gender and Genre," p. 433. Pateman cogently states that "Women have never been completely excluded, of course, from public l i f e ; but the way in-which women are included i s grounded, as f i r m l y as t h e i r p o s i t i o n i n the domestic sphere, i n p a t r i a r c h a l b e l i e f s and pra c t i c e s . " Pateman, "Feminist C r i t i q u e s of the Public/Private Dichotomy," p. 132. 44. Fraser, "Rethinking the Public Sphere," p. 67ff. Bovenschen, who generally i n s i s t s on the exclusionary hypothesis, i s forced to admit t h i s very point v i s - a - v i s the growing number of women writers of domestic f i c t i o n i n the l a t e r eighteenth-century. See Bovenschen, Die imaginierte Weiblichkeit. passim, p. 211. For analysis of some of the f i r s t t e ntative statements of feminist consciousness i n l a t e r eighteenth-century Germany see Ruth Dawson, "'And t h i s s h i e l d i s c a l l e d — s e l f - r e l i a n c e : ' Emerging Feminist Consciousness i n the l a t e Eighteenth-Century," i n Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres 'and Mary Jo Maynes, eds., German Women i n the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Bloomington, 1986), pp. 157-74. 45. F r i e d r i c h S c h i l l e r , "Uber das gegenwartige teutsche Theater," i n Ludwig Bellerman, ed., S c h i l l e r s Werke v o l . 15 (2nd ed., L e i p z i g ) , p. 400. A l l t r a n s l a t i o n s i n t h i s chapter, unless otherwise indicated, are my own. 46. See Mead, Mind. Self and Society, pp. 256-57. 47. quoted i n Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel: Studies i n Defoe. Richardson and F i e l d i n g (London, 1974), p. 51. 48. Klei n , Shaftesbury and the culture of politeness, p. 8. For more on Shaftesbury see Chapters 2 & 3 below. 49. Geoff Eley, "Rethinking the P o l i t i c a l : S o c i a l History and P o l i t i c a l Culture i n Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century B r i t a i n , " Archiv fur S o z i a l -qeschichte 21 (1981), p. 428. See for example J.H. Plumb, "The Public, L i t e r a t u r e , and the Arts i n the Eighteenth-Century," i n Michael R. Marrus, ed., The Emergence of Leisure (New York, 1974), pp. 11-37. 50. Eley, "Rethinking the P o l i t i c a l , " p. 434. 51. See Eckhart Hellmuth, "'The Palladium of a l l other Eng l i s h l i b e r t i e s : ' Reflections on the Liberty of the Press i n England during the 1760's and 1770's," i n Eckhart Hellmuth, ed., The Transformation of P o l i t i c a l Culture: England and Germany i n the Late Eighteenth-Centurv (Oxford, 1990), 50 pp. 467-501; J.A.W. Gunn, Beyond Liberty,and Property: The Process of S e l f -Recognition i n Eighteenth-Centurv P o l i t i c a l Thought (Kingston & Montreal, 1983). 52. Hellmuth, "'The Palladium of a l l other English l i b e r t i e s , ' " p. 4 6 9 f f . 53. Roger Chartier, The C u l t u r a l Origins of the French Revolution (Durham, 1991); Daniel Gordon, "'Public Opinion' and the C i v i l i z i n g Process i n France: The Example of Morellet, " Eighteenth-Centurv Studies 22 (1989.) :302-28; Goodman, The Republic of Letters. 54. See Keith M. Baker, Condorcet. as well as his Inventing the French Revolution, chapter 7, "Science and P o l i t i c s at the end of the Old Regime." Dena Goodman makes a strong case for seeing the Pa r i s i a n salons as important centres of Enlightenment discourse, i n a manner s i m i l a r to Gordon. See Goodman, The Republic of Letters. Chapters 3 & 4. 55. Baker, "Defining the Public Sphere i n Eighteenth-Century France," p. 192; , Inventing the French Revolution, p.,,170, passim. 56. Robert Darnton & Paul Roche, eds., Revolution i n P r i n t : The Press i n France, 1775-1800 (Berkeley, 1989), p. xiv. 57. Joan Landes, "More Than Words: The P r i n t i n g Press and the French Revolution," Eighteenth-Centurv Studies 25 ( F a l l 1991):88. 58. Sara Maza, Private Lives and Public A f f a i r s : The Causes Celebres of Prerevolutionary France (Berkeley and L.A., 1993), pp. 2-3. 59. Mona Ozouf, "'Public Opinion' at the End of the Old Regime," Journal of Modern History 60 (September, 1988):S5, Sll-12, S15. 60. See for example Michael Maurer, Aufklarung und Ang l o p h i l i e i n Deutschland (Gottingen, 1987); Norbert Waszek, The Sc o t t i s h Enlightenment and Hegel's Account of ' C i v i l Society' (Dordrecht, Boston, London, 1988) . The impact of French writers l i k e Montesquieu and Rousseau on German s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l thought i s well-known. S p e c i f i c B r i t i s h and French influences on the figures p r o f i l e d i n t h i s study w i l l be d e t a i l e d i n the following chapters. 61. F r a n k l i n Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Aufklarung a l s Forschungsaufgabe," i n Franklin Kopitzsch, ed., Aufklarung. Absolutismus und Biirgertum i n Deutschland (Miinchen, 1976), p. 77. Kopitzsch's essay remains one of the most wide-ranging b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l surveys of the German s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l context a v a i l a b l e . See also Rudolf Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, trans. Jonathan B. Knudsen (Cambridge, 1988); , "Deutschland im 18. Jahrhundert: soziales Gefiige, p o l i t i s c h e Verfassung, g e i s t i g e Bewegung," i n Kopitzsch, ed., Aufklarung. Absolutismus und Biirgertum, p. 182ff. For a treatment of the concept of " s o c i a l d i s c i p l i n e " i n e a r l y -modern Germany see Marc Raeff, The Well-Ordered Police State: S o c i a l and I n s t i t u t i o n a l change Through Law i n the Germanies and Russia, 1600-1800 (New Haven, 1983), Part Two; Gerhard Oestreich, Neostoicism and the ear l y modern state (Cambridge, 1982). A good short introduction to German s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l l i f e i s contained i n Jonathan Knudsen, Justus Moser and the German Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1986). 62. See for example Rudolf Vierhaus, ed., Burger und Bi i r g e r l i c h k e i t im Z e i t a l t e r der Aufklarung (Heidelberg, 1981); Kopitzsch, ed., Aufklarung, Absolutismus und Biirgertum i n Deutschland; Hans Gerth, Biirgerliche I n t e l l i g e n z urn 1800: Zur Soziologie des deutschen Friihliberalismus (Gottingen, 1976) ; 51 Richard van Diilman, Der Gesellschaft der Aufklarer: zur Biirgerlichen Emanzipation und aufklarerischen Kultur i n Deutschland (Frankfurt am Main, 1986). I t i s rather d i f f i c u l t to translate the adjectives B i i r g e r l i c h and B u r g e r l i c h k e i t ; they are perhaps best rendered as expressing q u a l i t i e s of an expanding, middling c i v i l order. 63. As Vierhaus points out, t h i s new educated Biirgertum should not be confused with t r a d i t i o n a l town-dwelling burghers; on the other hand, there were connections between these two groups, and the former shared the t r a d i t i o n a l burgher "mentality, worldview, and l i f e s t y l e . " Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, p. 55ff, 84. 64. Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Aufklarung," p. 23, 58-62. 65. Knudsen, Justus Moser and the German Enlightenment, p. 12. See also Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, p. 52. 66. Manfred Riedel, "Der B e g r i f f der 'Biirgerlichen G e s e l l s c h a f t 1 und das Problem seines Geschichtlichen Ursprungs," i n Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde, ed., Staat und Ges e l l s c h a f t (Darmstadt, 1976), p. ,8,2ff. See also Habermas, The S t r u c t u r a l Transformation of the Public Sphere, p. 19ff. for a s i m i l a r discussion. 67. I w i l l use the term "burgher-citizen" to t r a n s l a t e Burger, which connoted both a middling to upper middling s o c i a l status and a p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y . 68. For the development of a general sense of " s t a t e - c i t i z e n " see "Burger, Staatsbiirger, Biirgertum," i n Brunner, Conze, Kosselleck, eds., Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe Band 1. pp. 675-94. See also Michael S t o l l e i s , " Untertan-Biirger-Staatsbiirger: Bemerkungen zur j u r i s t i s c h e n Terminologie im spaten 18. Jahrhundert," i n Vierhaus, ed., Burger und B i i r g e r l i c h k e i t im Z e i t a l t e r der Aufklarung, p. 65ff. 69. As Manfred Riedel has put i t , "The p a r t i c u l a r problematic that characterized the German concept of Burger (citizen) from the mid-eighteenth-century was caused by the fact that on the f i s s u r e d surface of the Old Regime an autonomous consciousness of c i t i z e n s h i p (BurgerjbewujSfcsein) could hardly be developed." Manfred Riedel, "Burger, Staatsbiirger, Biirgertum," Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe Band 1, p. 686. 70. F r i t z Valjavec, Die Entstehung der p o l i t i s c h e n Stromungen i n Deutschland. 1770-1815 (Munchen, 1951). Hans Gerth, Biirgerliche I n t e l l i g e n z um 1800: Zur Soziologie des deutschen Friihliberalismus. p. 17ff. 71. According to Rudolf Vierhaus, " d i v e r s i t y , tension, and c o n t r a r i e t y " characterized the eighteenth-century German scene. Vierhaus, "Deutschland im 18. Jahrhundert," p. 176. See also Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, p. v i i , 68-71; Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Aufklarung," passim. In general, both Vierhaus and Kopitzsch emphasize the s o c i a l , p o l i t i c a l and c u l t u r a l fragmentation of the Germanies at t h i s time. 72. Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte," pp. 34-37, passim; See also Riedel, "Burger, Staatsbiirger, Biirgertum," esp. p. 681ff. The formal, s c h o l a r l y meaning of Burger was " c i t i z e n , " as employed i n c l a s s i c a l p o l i t i c a l philosophy. 52 73. Richard van Diilmen, Die Gesellschaft der Aufklarer: zur biirqerlichen Emanzipation und aufklarerischen Kultur i n Deutschland (Frankfurt am Main, 1986), p. 7. See also U l r i c h Im Hof, Das g e s e l l i a e Jahrhundert: G e s e l l s c h a f t und Gesellschaften im Z e i t a l t e r der Aufklarung (Miinchen, 1982) . 74. van Diilmen, Die Gesellschaft der Aufklarer. p. 12ff, pp. 121-22. 75. Ernst Manheim, Aufklarung und. o f f e n t l i c h e Meinung, Norbert Schindler, ed. (1933; Stuttgart-Bad Canstatt, 1979). 76. van Diilmen, Die Gesellschaft der Aufklarer. p. 12ff, 132; Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte," p. 49ff. 77. Joachim Whaley, "The Protestant Enlightenment i n Germany," i n Roy Porter & Mikulas Teich, eds., The Enlightenment i n National Context (Cambridge, 1981), p. 112. See also Charles Ingrao, "The Problem of 'Enlightened Absolutism' and the German States," Journal of Modern History 58 (Dec. 1986):S174. 78. Whaley, The Enlightenment i n National Context, p. 108. See also Peter Hans R e i l l , The German Enlightenment and the Rise of H i s t o r i c i s m (Berkeley, 1975), p. 4 f f . * " 79. Richard L. Gawthrop, Pietism and the Making of Eighteenth-Centurv Prussia (Cambridge, 1993), p. 11. 80. Giinter B i r t s c h , "The C h r i s t i a n as Subject: The Worldly Mind of Prussian Protestant Theologians i n the Late Enlightenment Period," i n Eckhart Hellmuth, ed., The Transformation of P o l i t i c a l Culture, pp. 309-26. 81. Whaley, "The Protestant Enlightenment," p. 109. 82. Ibid., p. 112; Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, p. 8. 83. For more on cameralism see Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, pp. 28-30. Cameralism's object "was to improve the economic i n f r a s t r u c t u r e i n the service of higher state revenues. The most s i g n i f i c a n t administrative measures involved increasing population size, i n d u s t r i a l production, and exports." Being not only a form of state economic p o l i c y , cameralism--German mercantilism--was also a theory of state economic administration. Thus i t "placed the administration of the p r i n c e l y estate at i t s center. The goal was to increase both the revenues of the chamber of accounts, or Rechenkammer, from the p r i n c e l y properties and the l e g a l r i g h t s of the t e r r i t o r i a l prince." 84. Ingrao, "The Problem of 'Enlightened Absolutism' and the German States," p. S175. 85. As Ingrao does i n the case of Lessing. Abbt, as we'll see, d i d indeed express support and excitement for Frederick the Great during the period of the Seven Years War. This does not mean much, however, given the circumstances of the war and the widespread support for the monarch at that time. Abbt's primary concerns lay elsewhere. See Chapter 3. 86. Quoted i n Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte," pp. 39-40. 87. Ibid., pp. 36-39, 59-69. See also Rolf Engelsing, Der Burger a l s Leser: Lesergeschichte i n Deutschland 1500-1800 (Stuttgart, 1974), p. 190ff; Vierhaus, Germany i n the Age of Absolutism, p. 32ff, 51-52. 53 88. Quoted i n Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte," p. 60. 89. F r i e d r i c h N i c o l a i , ed., Thomas Abbts vermischte Werke v o l . 1 (Frankfurt & Lei p z i g , 1783), p. 270ff. See also Abbt's l e t t e r to Mendelssohn, Ibid. v o l . 3, pp. 204-205. 90. Kopitzsch, "Die Sozialgeschichte," p. 60. 91. John G. Gagliardo, Reich and Nation: The Holy Roman Empire as Idea and R e a l i t y . 1763-1806 (Bloomington, 1980). 92. Mack Walker, German Home Towns: Community. State, and General Estate 1648-1871 (Ithaca, 1971). 93. Vierhaus, Germany i n the Acre of Absolutism, p. 80. 94. Helmut K i e s e l & Paul Munch, Gesellschaft und L i t e r a t u r im 18. Jahrhundert: Voraussetzunaen und Entstehunq des l i t e r a r i s c h e n Markts i n Deutschland (Miinchen, 1977), esp. p. 180ff; Kopitzsch, "Der Sozialgeschichte," p. 48ff; Gerth, Biiraerliche I n t e l l i a e n z urn 1800. >p.'.,61ff. See also A l b e r t Ward, Book Production. F i c t i o n , and the German Reading Public 1740-1800 (Oxford, 1974) . 95. Wolfgang Martens, Die Botschaft der Tuqend: Die Aufklarung im Spiegel der deutschen Moralischen Wochenschriften (Stuttgart, 1968). 96. Rudolf Vierhaus, "Die aufgeklarten S c h r i f t s t e l l e r : Zur so z i a l e n C h a r a k t e r i s t i k einer selbsternannten E l i t e , " i n Hans E r i c h Bodeker & U l r i c h Hermann, eds., Uber den Prozess der Aufklarung i n Deutschland im 18. Jahrhundert (Gottingen, 1987), pp. 53-65; Hans E r i c h Bodeker, "Journals and Public Opinion: The P o l i t i c i z a t i o n of the German Enlightenment," i n Hellmuth, ed., The Transformation of P o l i t i c a l Culture, pp. 423-45; Martens, Die Botschaft der Tuqend, pp. 337-38; Gerth, Biirgerliche I n t e l l i g e n z urn 1800, p. 68. 97. K i e s e l & Munch, Gesellschaft und L i t e r a t u r , p. 103. Documentation for t h i s paragraph i s provided i n Marianne Spiegel, Der Roman und sein Publikum im friiheren 18. Jahrhundert. 1700-1767 (Bonn, 1967), pp. 24-25; Ward, Book Production, F i c t i o n , and the German Reading Public; K i e s e l & Munch, Ges e l l s c h a f t und L i t e r a t u r im 18. Jahrhundert; Engelsing, Der Burger a l s Leser, p. 182ff; Gerth, Biirgerliche I n t e l l i g e n z urn 1800, p. 62ff; Vierhaus, "Die aufgeklarten S c h r i f t s t e l l e r . " K i e s e l and Munch have argued that the empirical reconstruction of readership during the eighteenth-century i s nearly impossible, due to the paucity of r e l i a b l e contemporary sources on the question. See Gesellschaft und L i t e r a t u r im 18. Jahrhundert, p. 159. 98. Martens, Die Botschaft der Tugend, pp. 124-25; 162ff; 286ff. 99. Ibid., p. 31ff; 150ff. 100. Ibid., p. 102, 141ff. 101. Spiegel, Der Roman und sein Publikum, pp. 54-55, 103-105. 102. Engelsing, Der Burger a l s Leser. p. 182ff; K i e s e l & Munch, Ges e l l s c h a f t und L i t e r a t u r , p. 200ff; Ward, Book Production. 103. Engelsing, Der Burger a l s Leser. pp. 184-185. J 54